Companies join forces to discover and develop new drugs that ‘improve muscle health and body composition.’
Longevity biotech Juvena Therapeutics today announced a global licensing and research collaboration with pharma giant Eli Lilly to advance the discovery and development of drug candidates with the potential to treat conditions ranging from frailty to obesity. The partnership will use Juvena’s proprietary AI platform to identify novel therapies from the company’s stem-cell derived protein library, targeting improvements in muscle mass, function and overall body composition.
Under the terms of the agreement, Juvena will receive an upfront payment, an equity investment from Lilly, and the potential to earn development and commercialization milestone payments. Lilly will gain exclusive rights to the lead candidates identified through the collaboration and will take responsibility for their further development and commercialization.
We spoke to Juvena co-founder and CEO Dr Hanadie Yousef, who told us that the company is “eligible to receive more than $650 million in research, development and commercial milestone payments.”
The deal comes as pharma companies seek to build on the remarkable success of GLP-1 agonists in obesity by addressing issues such as the loss of muscle mass associated with medically induced weight loss.
“There is a growing pharma interest in muscle regenerative therapies that ultimately improve healthspan and the quality of life, and, if combined with the incretin therapies for obesity, can greatly enhance the quality of weight loss while preserving and even potentially enhancing muscle health and function,” Yousef told us. “Particularly as a strong body of evidence demonstrates the link between muscle health and enhanced metabolism, mobility, and even long-term disease prevention and overall health.”
Juvena’s approach centers on the therapeutic potential of secreted signaling proteins derived from human stem cells. At the core of this strategy is its AI-enabled drug discovery and development platform, JuvNET, which combines a proprietary protein library with cutting-edge technologies in quantitative proteomics, multi-omics data integration, high-content imaging, and protein engineering. The platform maps the relationship between secreted proteins and disease phenotypes to identify and optimize biologic drug candidates.
Juvena, which raised $41 million in a Series A funding round in 2022, has already built a diverse pipeline of biologics addressing chronic muscle and metabolic diseases, with over 50 protein hits identified as having potential therapeutic applications across conditions such as pulmonary and hepatic fibrosis, osteoarthritis and obesity-related disorders. Among these is JUV-161, which recently entered clinical trials and is based on a naturally secreted protein that supports muscle regeneration.
Another program, JUV-112, is designed to promote fat breakdown and increase energy expenditure without suppressing appetite or reducing muscle mass.
“JUV-112 is a fat targeting protein that enhances lipid metabolism through energy expenditure, in some ways mimicking the effects of exercise in increasing lipid metabolism,” Yousef told us. “In many ways, Juvena is leveraging its unique platform to identify proteins that can mimic the effects of exercise, in enhancing muscle metabolism and building back strength and function over time.”
The new collaboration aims to accelerate the discovery of treatments that not only address obesity and frailty but also promote long-term metabolic health and resilience.
“Obesity affects one in eight people globally, all of whom deserve a chance at better health,” said Juvena co-founder Dr Jeremy O’Connell. “Bringing together Lilly’s decades-long experience in metabolic diseases with Juvena’s AI expertise and deep understanding of human stem-cell secreted proteins with therapeutic potential, we aim to accelerate innovation that advances the standard of care in obesity management and helps people live their best lives.”
Photograph courtesy of Juvena Therapeutics.
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