Having set Metsera on its journey to a $10 billion takeover, Arch Venture Partners and Population Health Partners have powered their new startup—Sentivera—to a licensing deal worth up to $1.5 billion.
Arch and Population Health launched Metsera in 2022. Having exited stealth with $290 million in 2024, the biotech became the subject of a bidding war between Novo Nordisk and Pfizer last year. Pfizer won, enabling the U.S. Big Pharma to put Metsera’s assets at the center of its efforts to establish a presence in the blockbuster obesity market.
The investors moved quickly to replicate the success. Twelve days after Pfizer closed the Metsera deal, Sentivera incorporated in Delaware. Sentivera initially kept a low profile, but the inking of a licensing deal with a drugmaker traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange has thrust the startup into the spotlight.
Sentivera is paying (PDF) Haisco Pharmaceutical $40 million in cash upfront for an inflammatory disease drug candidate that recently received clearance to enter clinical development in China. Haisco will also receive Sentivera stock valued at almost $36 million, giving it a 17.5% stake in the biotech. Wang Junmin, the billionaire chair of Haisco, contributed $5 million to Sentivera’s $83 million funding round.
Haisco has retained the rights to the drug candidate in Greater China. With a stake in Sentivera and a deal featuring up to $1.46 billion in milestones, Haisco is positioned to profit as its partner advances the asset in the rest of the world.
The drug at the center of the deal remains shrouded in mystery. Haisco described the candidate as a small molecule that inhibits the development and progression of Type 2 inflammatory diseases. Seen in conditions such as asthma and eczema, Type 2 inflammation is a form of immune response seen in conditions such as asthma and eczema, with Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent among the drugs that target this type of inflammation.