Weight loss play­er gets at­ten­tion of RA Cap­i­tal, walks away with $132M to keep pur­su­ing big tar­gets

A biotech out  to cor­ner a new mar­ket in the di­a­betes and weight loss space has record­ed its sec­ond, and so far largest, raise yet.

Char­lottesville, VA-based Rivus Phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals made the an­nounce­ment Thurs­day that it has closed its Se­ries B at $132 mil­lion. Led by RA Cap­i­tal, the round will push the biotech fur­ther along in clin­i­cal de­vel­op­ment of its lead can­di­date, HU6. Per Rivus, the lead can­di­date is a type of small mol­e­cule called a “con­trolled meta­bol­ic ac­cel­er­a­tor,” a term the biotech coined to de­scribe a drug de­signed to tar­get obe­si­ty — by in­creas­ing the num­ber of calo­ries a pa­tient burns.

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