Verdiva Bio

Obesity NewCo built around Sciwind's ecnoglutide, betting on a once-weekly oral GLP-1 plus amylin combinations.

1. Core Product / Service

Verdiva Bio (London / San Francisco) launched on 2025-01-09 with exclusive rights, outside Greater China and South Korea, to a metabolic portfolio from Hangzhou-based Sciwind Biosciences [1][2]:

• VRB-101 — an oral, once-weekly formulation of ecnoglutide, a cAMP-biased GLP-1 peptide analog, delivered with Verdiva's oral technology [4].
• VRB-103 — a potential once-weekly oral amylin analog, being studied in combination with VRB-101 [4].
• A long-acting injectable amylin agonist [2].

The two companies also agreed to collaborate on additional preclinical programs [1]. In China, injectable ecnoglutide was approved for type 2 diabetes (January 2026) and weight management (March 2026), with Pfizer handling China commercialisation — giving the molecule a human-data reference set that Verdiva can draw on [5][7].

2. Target Users & Pain Points

• Patients: adults with obesity or overweight with comorbidities who prefer a pill; a weekly oral would avoid both injections and the daily fasting rules of current oral GLP-1s [4].
• Licensor: Sciwind, a private Chinese biotech, gets ex-China development funded without building a Western organisation.

3. Competitive Landscape

4. Unique Observations

• Clinic moving faster than the funding news. The Phase 2b EVOLVE-2 study (5 active arms + placebo, 20 weeks of weekly oral dosing) finished enrolling >200 participants at 22 US sites in February 2026; topline is guided for end-2026 and Phase 3 for 2027 if positive [4]. ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study as completed with primary completion 2026-07-23 [6] — consistent with a readout later in 2026. A second Phase 2 (weight maintenance, NCT07553299) started in June 2026 [6].
• Who does the wet lab. Verdiva licensed rights to "develop, manufacture and commercialize"; Sciwind retains the molecule in its home markets and keeps Chinese clinical and manufacturing capacity [1]. Verdiva's own contribution is the oral formulation and global trials, run by the former Aiolos Bio team [2][4]. No public supply agreement has been disclosed, so the CMC split is not confirmed.
• Team reuse as a NewCo template. The CEO, CSO, CBO and CTO all held the same roles at Aiolos Bio — itself a NewCo built on a Chinese TSLP antibody and sold to GSK — showing how US teams repeat the "license from China, sell to pharma" playbook [2].

5. Financials / Funding

• Series A: $411M (January 2025), co-led by Forbion and General Atlantic; RA Capital, OrbiMed, Logos, Lilly Asia Ventures and LYFE Capital participated [2][3].
• Sciwind terms: upfront consideration of "approximately $70 million", more than $2.4B in milestones, plus tiered royalties [1]. The release does not split the $70M into cash vs equity, and whether Sciwind holds Verdiva equity is not disclosed.
• No Series B, IPO or M&A reported as of October 2026.

6. People & Relationships

• CEO: Khurem Farooq (ex-CEO Aiolos Bio); CSO Jane Hughes; CBO Tapan Maniar; CTO Ashley Taylor; Chair Mark Pruzanski (ex-CEO Versanis) [2].
• Licensor: Sciwind Biosciences.
• Investors: Forbion, General Atlantic, RA Capital, OrbiMed, Logos, LAV, LYFE [2][3].
• Peer NewCos: kailera-therapeutics, braveheart-bio, candid-therapeutics, timberlyne-therapeutics, windward-bio, sentivera.

Sources

• [1] Sciwind Biosciences press release on the Verdiva license, BioSpace, 2025-01-10 (accessed 2026-10-14)
• [2] BioPharma Dive, Verdiva launch with Sciwind assets, 2025-01-09 (accessed 2026-10-14)
• [3] Forbion press release, $410M+ Series A (accessed 2026-10-14)
• [4] PharmaTimes, Verdiva completes EVOLVE-2 enrolment, 2026-02-25 (accessed 2026-10-14)
• [5] Research notes on China-asset NewCos, 2026-10-14
• [6] ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07281937 and NCT07553299 (accessed 2026-10-14)
• [7] Close Concerns summary of ecnoglutide China approval and Pfizer China deal (accessed 2026-10-14)