Ambrosia Biosciences takes over ex-Pfizer space in Boulder

BOULDER — Ambrosia Biosciences Inc., a recently formed drug-discovery company, has moved into Pfizer Inc.’s (NYSE: PFE) previously shuttered Boulder research and development facilities and closed a $25 million Series A fundraising round.

The company — which initially will focus on developing small-molecule drug therapies for obesity and other metabolic disorders, and had previously raised $16 million as part of the Series A round — reunited a team of scientists that previously worked for Pfizer.

The pharmaceutical giant ended operations at the four-building, 151,384-square-foot office and lab campus at 3200 Walnut St. this spring, resulting in an undisclosed number of job cuts. 

The facility, which Pfizer took over in 2019 as part of its $11 billion acquisition of Boulder-based oncology company Array BioPharma Inc., had focused mainly on oncology drug research. That work was performed by some of the same scientists who migrated in the Array acquisition and who are now members of the Ambrosia team. 

“The Ambrosia team has made impressive progress with our (contract research organization) partners, and we’re now poised to accelerate these efforts even further with the added capabilities of our in-house medicinal chemistry and biology teams,” Ambrosia CEO Nick Traggis said in a prepared statement. 

Traggis previously served as the CEO of LightDeck Diagnostics, a medical-test maker acquired by Heska Corp. in 2022. 

An Ambrosia representative told BizWest that the company moved into the Walnut Street facility last week after purchasing at an auction in California much of the equipment previously used by Pfizer and shipping it back to Boulder.

Investors in Ambrosia’s Series A included Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK), BVF Partners and Boulder Ventures.

“We are excited to have participation from Merck for this financing,” Traggis’ statement said. “We are confident that orally administered, small molecule therapies will play a central role in shaping the next generaLon of treatments for obesity and metabolic disorders.

Ambrosia isn’t the only Boulder-based drug-discovery team focused on weight-loss treatments. 

Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Corden Pharma International GmbH plans to invest nearly $500 million over the next three years to expand its operations in Boulder to produce more GLP-1 peptides, components of several increasingly popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs.

All told, Corden expects to invest about $981 million to expand its global peptide-manufacturing capacity to meet skyrocketing demand and a 1 billion-euro (nearly $1.09 billion) sales goal for peptide-platform drugs by 2028.

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