AstraZeneca acquires SixPeaks for up to USD 300 million

In May 2025 SixPeaks disclosed a USD 30 million Series A financing round and a strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca. Now, AstraZeneca has announced in its Q3 earnings statement that it has acquired the Basel-based start-up in its entirety by exercise of an option. USD 170 million was paid on closing, USD 30 million to be paid after two years and up to a further USD 100 million is payable on achievement of regulatory milestones, which will be accrued for at its present value. These payments will be recognised in equity as SixPeaks has been consolidated as a subsidiary due to AstraZeneca’s control since the initial equity investment of USD 15 million in Q2 2024.

SixPeaks was founded in 2022 at Versant Ventures’ Ridgeline Discovery Engine in the Basel Technology Park with the goal of developing improved therapies for healthy weight loss. The SixPeaks team leveraged internal biologics capabilities within Ridgeline to create an activin IIA/B receptor antibody for robust preservation of skeletal muscle mass in humans.

GLP-1-based therapies have proven efficacy in obesity and associated co-morbidities. However, patients can lose muscle mass in addition to reductions in body fat, with the decrease in muscle accounting for up to 40% of the weight loss derived from these medicines.

SixPeaks’ lead molecules show potentially best-in-class efficacy for muscle mass preservation both as a single agent and when combined with GLP-1 agonists. The company also has conjugated its activin receptor IIA/B antibody with a GLP-1 peptide, thus creating a first-in-class therapy with the potential to provide maximal GLP-1 agonist-mediated weight-loss while preserving muscle.

(Press release / SK)
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