Obesity-focused Kailera Therapeutics debuted on the Nasdaq Friday after raising a record $625 million, beating Moderna’s $600 million from 2018.
By Annalee Armstrong
Kailera Therapeutics has landed on the Nasdaq with a record-breaking $625 million raise, firmly declaring that biotech is back on the public markets.
The IPO is the largest biotech debut of all time, beating Moderna’s $600 million raise in December 2018.
The obesity-focused biotech began trading on Friday under the ticker KLRA. After declaring an intent to raise $610 million, including underwriter options last week, the company beat that estimate by $15 million. Kailera has also granted the underwriters further options to acquire more shares at the offering price. Kailera offered just under 40 million shares for $16 apiece.
Formed around a clutch of assets from China’s Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Kailera’s fundraising to date has already been breaking barriers. The biotech emerged with $400 million in October 2024, and in October 2025 raised $600 million in a series B.
It’s no surprise that an obesity biotech has broken the sound barrier with an IPO. Last fall, a tense bidding war broke out over peer Metsera between Pfizer and Novo Nordisk. Pfizer ultimately won out with nearly $10 billion paid for the company.
Original article published April 14
Kailera eyes record $533M+ IPO to play in competitive obesity space with Chinese drugs
By Tristan Manalac
After declaring its intent to go public last month, Kailera Therapeutics has now revealed an initial public offering amount that could be the highest the industry has seen in years.
Kailera will put 33 million shares of common stock up for sale for $14 to $16 apiece, according to its updated prospectus, resulting in a raise that could reach as high as $533 million. The biotech has also opened a 30-day option for underwriters to purchase up to 5 million additional shares of common stock at the initial public offering (IPO) price.
If underwriters completely take Kailera up on this offer, the biotech could see an $80 million bump to the IPO raise, bringing the total haul over $610 million. If fully realized, this would be the biggest public market debut in years and put Kailera firmly at the head of this year’s IPO class.
In February, AI-forward Generate:Biomedicines brought in $400 million in an IPO, a sum that had been hailed as a record raise. Generate itself outpaced Eikon Therapeutics’ $381 million earlier that same month, which at the time was called the largest since 2024. Other companies that have declared an intent to go public this year include Seaport Therapeutics, Hemab Therapeutics and Avalyn Pharma.
Whatever the IPO brings in, Kailera will add the sum to its $600 million series B round in October 2025, money that at the time was earmarked to advance its pipeline of obesity assets into late-stage development. Kailera hasn’t yet announced when the IPO window will close, but the company intends to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol KLRA.
Kailera’s pipeline is led by ribupatide, a GLP-1/GIP receptor dual agonist being developed in partnership with China’s Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals. The companies are currently advancing both injectable and oral versions of ribupatide.
Phase 2 data in February demonstrated a 12.1% reduction in weight at 26 weeks for patients on 25-mg or 50-mg ribupatide, whereas the placebo group hit 2.3% weight loss at this time point. The partners were emboldened by these findings to push the drug into late-stage studies.
Kailera expects to allot roughly $625 million for the development of injectable ribupatide, currently in three ongoing Phase 3 studies, into the second quarter of 2028, according to the updated prospectus. Meanwhile, around $150 million will go toward the pill form of ribupatide, for which a late-stage study is in the works and is expected to start as early as the first half of 2027.
Aside from ribupatide, Kailera is also advancing KAI-7535, a daily oral GLP-1 drug. Some $50 million will help push the pill through Phase 2. The rest of Kailera’s money will go toward other R&D activities and support general corporate operations, as per the prospectus.
Kailera was one of the buzziest startups to hit the scene with its October 2024 debut, carrying $400 million in starting funds. The biotech launched as a NewCo featuring Chinese assets, a startup method that has been rising in popularity as investors, pharmas and biotech leaders alike hunt for assets in the country.
Peer obesity startup Metsera sparked a wild bidding war last fall when Pfizer and Novo Nordisk duked it out to seal the M&A deal. Pfizer ultimately walked away with the prize, spending nearly $10 billion to buy Metsera and its pipeline of obesity medications.
Correction (April 15): The story has corrected to state that Phase 3 development of oral ribupatide is set to start as early as the first half of 2027, not in the second quarter of 2028 as an earlier verson read. BioSpace regrets the error.
