Eli Lilly partner BioAge files for US IPO

(Reuters) -BioAge Labs, an obesity therapy-focused startup that has also collaborated with Eli Lilly, filed for an initial public offering in the United States on Tuesday as it looks to capitalize on investors' enthusiasm around the space.

The Richmond, California-based company will be one of several biotech firms to list shares this year. Rate-cut expectations have boosted equities and allowed more startups to raise capital via IPOs.

The company's experimental drug, azelaprag, is being developed for the treatment of obesity. It has initiated a mid-stage trial in combination with Lilly's Zepbound and plans to initiate a second such trial with Novo Nordisk's Wegovy in the first half of 2025.

The proposed IPO comes months after BioAge raised $170 million in a funding round led by life sciences investment firm Sofinnova Investments.

The company lost $26.6 million in the first half of this year, compared with $28.3 million in the same period in 2023.

BioAge commenced operations in 2015 but is yet to generate any revenue, with the company saying in a regulatory filing that it has "devoted substantially all of our resources to identifying, acquiring and developing our product candidates and licensed technologies."

Some IPO investors this year have preferred to back companies with stable revenue and a proven track record of turning profits, but anti-obesity drug developers have lured Wall Street and secured the backing of several venture capital heavyweights.

BioAge will list its shares on the Nasdaq under the symbol "BIOA." Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Jefferies and Citigroup are the underwriters for the offering.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)