Kallyope is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging its proprietary Klarity™ therapeutic platform to discover and develop oral small-molecule therapeutics. Its programs focus on metabolism (including diabetes and obesity), gastrointestinal disease, and neurological disorders. Under a four-year, $8.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kallyope will apply its gut-focused screening and validation capabilities to identify and characterize metabolites for interventions targeting environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) in undernourished pregnant and lactating women and mothers. The work will be conducted in collaboration with other institutions affiliated with the foundation. Kallyope will retain rights to develop compounds derived from the identified agents as possible therapeutics and as supplements in low-resource nations and other global regions. The effort is explicitly aimed at improving maternal, newborn, and child health in epicenters of the global food and nutrition crisis where EED contributes to stunting and poor infant outcomes. Kallyope has built a drug‑discovery platform that integrates sequencing, bioinformatics, neural imaging, cellular and molecular biology, and human genetics to reveal gut‑brain biology. The company focuses on targeting gut and gut‑brain physiology with gut‑restricted molecules to increase the speed and probability of success in drug discovery. Its pipeline spans metabolism, immunology and inflammation, and central nervous system disorders. Over the past 13 months Kallyope advanced four compounds into the clinic across its two lead programs in Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and diseases of the gastrointestinal barrier. The company reports more than 20 programs and molecules in its broader pipeline. Headquartered at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York City, Kallyope was founded six years ago and has raised nearly $480 million to date. Kallyope is a biotechnology company dedicated to unlocking the therapeutic potential of the gut-brain axis. Led by CEO Nancy Thornberry and founded by Charles Zuker, Tom Maniatis, and Richard Axel, the company integrates sequencing, bioinformatics, neural imaging, cellular and molecular biology, and human genetics to understand gut-brain biology. Headquartered at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York City, Kallyope is advancing a broad portfolio of programs across gastrointestinal, CNS, and inflammatory disorders. Its lead program targets satiety circuits for weight loss, with clinical testing expected to begin later this year. A second program targeting gut barrier function with potential relevance for inflammatory bowel disease is anticipated to enter the clinic soon after. The company raised $112M in a Series C to advance its portfolio of programs and its first clinical trials. Kallyope is a New York City–based biotechnology company focused on identifying therapeutic opportunities involving the gut–brain axis. The company has developed a platform that enables a systematic approach to targeting gut–brain circuits with small molecules and has initiated multiple programs spanning metabolic, central nervous system, and gastrointestinal disorders. In addition to its internal small-molecule programs, Kallyope recently initiated a collaboration with Novo Nordisk focused on discovery of peptide therapeutics for obesity and diabetes. Kallyope raised a $21M expansion of its previously announced Series B, bringing the Series B total to $87M and total capital raised since inception to $131M. The company says it will use the additional funds to further advance its portfolio of programs targeting the gut–brain axis. Kallyope is headquartered at the Alexandria Center for Life Science in New York City and is led by CEO Nancy Thornberry; it was co-founded by Charles Zuker, Tom Maniatis and Richard Axel. Kallyope integrates sequencing, bioinformatics, neural imaging, cellular and molecular biology, and human genetics to discover therapeutic opportunities involving the gut–brain axis. The company is led by CEO Nancy Thornberry and was co-founded by Charles Zuker, Tom Maniatis and Richard Axel. Initially Kallyope will focus on metabolic and neurological disorders with plans to expand into other disease areas involving the gut and gut–brain biology. The firm describes itself as a cross-disciplinary platform biotechnology company aiming to translate biological insights into transformational therapeutics. The company will use new funding to expand operations and scale its team. It expected to grow to nearly 60 employees by the end of 2018.

Total raised

$487M

Funding rounds

6

Latest round

Grant

Latest activity

May 2023