A French biotech startup that's developing a novel drug to help treat Type 2 diabetes has announced plans to establish its U.S. headquarters in Pittsburgh.
To do so, AdipoPharma, which is based in the French city of Strasbourg, will build out its operations at a site within the former AGH Suburban hospital complex in Bellevue, which is also the home of a life sciences startup accelerator program from Innovation Works and Allegheny Health Network called AlphaLab Health.
AdipoPharma's flagship PATAS drug aims to treat a patient's resistance to insulin, one of the causes behind the disease. The startup also noted its drug marks "the first therapeutic breakthrough for Type 2 diabetes treatment in more than a decade."
The company is betting on Pittsburgh to ensure it will continue to have the ability to grow its product.
"With its abundance of research universities and thriving life sciences community, Pittsburgh was a natural choice for AdipoPharma as we prepare to enter Phase 1 clinical trials later this year," James Nolan, chairman and chief business officer of AdipoPharma, said in a prepared statement. "Pittsburgh and its biotech leaders are incredibly supportive to companies like AdipoPharma looking for a home. We’re grateful, in particular, to Dr. Jeff Cohen and his outstanding team at the Highmark Innovation Center and to Ray Miller and his excellent group at DLA Piper for their efforts to help get us up and rolling."
The announcement that it will establish operations in Pittsburgh comes at the same time that AdipoPharma disclosed it raised a Series A funding round, though the company did not state the size of the funding amount raised. Newton Biocapital II, an international venture capital firm based in Belgium and Japan, led the round.
"The establishment of our U.S. headquarters and the Series A funding are major steps forward for AdipoPharma and our quest to treat insulin resistance, the primary cause of Type 2 diabetes,” Dr. Vincent Marion, the startup's founder and president, said in a prepared statement. “We are excited to start the first drug targeting adipocytes that will enter U.S. clinical trials later this year.”
