Oral peptide drugs are having a moment. FDA approvals in recent months include the first peptide pills for obesity and plaque psoriasis, each providing an alternative to injectable medications. Pinnacle Medicines CEO Jonathan Wang acknowledges the progress, but says it’s just a start. Pinnacle is among the companies aiming to expand the reach of oral peptides and the startup recently revealed $89 million in new funding as it prepares to bring multiple drugs into the clinic.
One of the challenges for developing peptides in pill form is that administered orally, the amount of drug that’s available to provide a therapeutic effect is very low. To get around this low oral bioavailability, drug companies developed peptide drugs in injectable formulations, such as Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide products for type 2 diabetes and obesity.
There are a few peptide drugs in pill form. Since 2019, Novo Nordisk has marketed Rybelsus, an oral formulation of semaglutide for type 2 diabetes. Last December, the FDA approved another version of oral semaglutide for obesity, the company’s Wegovy pill. And last month, the FDA approved Johnson & Johnson’s Icotyde, an oral peptide developed for plaque psoriasis. The two drugmakers enable oral administration of these products by formulating them with ingredients that enhance absorption of the peptide by the digestive system. Meanwhile, startup Vivtex, whose partners include Novo Nordisk, has technology that identifies how combinations of such inactive ingredients, called excipients, can improve gastrointestinal absorption of peptides.
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Pinnacle’s drugs also incorporate excipients, but its research focus is the peptide itself, Wang said. The startup has developed a proprietary technology platform that leverages artificial intelligence and physics-based modeling to design peptides with better properties.
“We can, right from the get-go, design molecules that have optimized potency, that have better stability, better permeability, as well as other [pharmacokinetic] properties,” Wang said. “We have a peptide which can be orally delivered and achieve the efficacy and safety that biologics can achieve, and convenience as well as scalability more like small molecules.”
Pinnacle, which splits its operations between Shanghai and Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is pursuing targets that have validation, either from an approved biologic drug or a from biologic medicines in mid- or late-stage clinical development. The therapeutic areas of interest include obesity and cardiovascular disease. Pinnacle’s lead program is on track to start human testing in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by the end of this year, Wang said.
Three other Pinnacle programs are expected to enter the clinic in 2027. The pipeline lists programs in development for inflammatory bowel disease and atopic dermatitis. Wang declined to disclose specific targets of these drugs, but said each of the company’s assets has the potential to be a first-in-class oral peptide.
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Pinnacle was formed in 2024 by scientific co-founders Chengzao Sun, the startup’s chief scientific officer, and Sandeep Somani, its chief technology officer. Both had extensive experience at large pharmaceutical companies where their work included oral peptide R&D. Pinnacle was incubated by OrbiMed, which provided the startup’s initial funding. Wang is also a senior managing director at OrbiMed. The $89 million Series B financing was led co-led by LAV and Foresite Capital. Other participants in the round include Quan Capital, Hankang Capital, RA Capital Management, Logos Capital as well as earlier investors including OrbiMed. In total, Pinnacle said it has raised $134 million to date.
Wang said the new financing should take Pinnacle at least to clinical proof of concept for its lead programs. The capital will also support additional peptide R&D. That work includes bispecific peptides, drugs that hit two different targets. Wang noted that bispecific antibody drugs are bringing new treatment options to certain diseases, and Pinnacle aims to follow.
“We want to take advantage of some of that biology work and incorporate it into our oral peptides,” Wang said.
Photo by Pinnacle Medicines