Ambrosia Biosciences Raises $100 Million to Challenge Oral Wegovy in the Expanding GLP-1 Pill Market

Ambrosia Biosciences has secured $100 million in an oversubscribed Series B round to advance its oral GLP-1 obesity drug into early human testing, entering an increasingly competitive race to develop pill alternatives to injectable weight-loss treatments.

The round was co-led by Blue Owl Healthcare Opportunities, Redmile, and Deep Track Capital. Ambrosia was founded by former Array BioPharma scientists laid off after Pfizer's acquisition of the cancer drugmaker, and previously raised $25 million in a 2024 Series A.

The obesity pill market has heated up significantly since December, when the FDA approved Novo Nordisk's oral Wegovy. On Wednesday, the agency also approved Eli Lilly's GLP-1 pill orforglipron, marketed as Foundayo. Though oral GLP-1s typically deliver less weight loss than injectables, their convenience advantage is expected to drive adoption.

Wall Street analysts project combined GLP-1 sales exceeding $100 billion annually by 2030. Ambrosia's approach uses small molecule modulators designed for combinability with other metabolic disease targets including GIP and amylin.

The company faces competition from Structure Therapeutics (aleniglipron), Kailera Therapeutics (ribupatide), Corxel Therapeutics, and Verdiva Bio, which recently completed Phase 2b enrollment for its oral peptide VRB-101 with over $400 million in funding.