Fauna Bio Announces First Candidate Nomination of Faun1083 for the Treatment of Heart Failure
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Kimberly Ha
KKH Advisors
917-291-5744
kimberly.ha@kkhadvisors.com
Fauna Bio, a biotechnology company improving human health by leveraging animal genomics, today announced Faun1083 as its first development candidate. Discovered through Fauna Bio’s proprietary Convergence™ drug discovery platform, Faun1083 is a potential first-in-class therapeutic targeting heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), a disease with currently limited treatment options.
Faun1083 has demonstrated positive in-vivo efficacy in multiple preclinical animal models, including rat sugen hypoxia and ZSF1 studies, which are common models to study key features of heart failure and pulmonary hypertension.
“We’re thrilled to announce Faun1083 as our first development candidate, which is an important validation of our novel discovery approach,” said Ashley Zehnder, Ph.D., CEO & Co-Founder, Fauna Bio. “Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction affects millions of patients worldwide, and current treatments often fail to address the root causes of the disease. We plan to advance Faun1083 into the clinic in 2026.”
Faun1083 is the first developmental candidate selected using the Convergence™ discovery platform, which integrates datasets from animals with natural disease resistance, such as hibernating species, with human genomic data to identify novel therapeutic targets. Faun1083 was discovered through the analysis of cardiac protection mechanisms in 13-lined ground squirrels, a well-characterized model of hibernation.
This unique approach has enabled Fauna Bio to uncover and advance a first-in-class therapeutic candidate that holds promise for improving patient outcomes in HFpEF and is strongly differentiated from other approved and late stage clinical therapies. Faun1083 is a novel small molecule therapeutic that has excellent potency, selectivity, PK / ADME properties for oral dosing and toxicity profile including results from recent large animal dose-range finding experiments.
Heart failure is a leading cause of hospitalization and mortality worldwide and HFpEF constitutes nearly half of all heart failure cases, constituting a global population of up to 27 million patients with functional impairment. Current therapies offer only symptomatic relief and do not improve mortality, leaving a substantial gap in effective treatment options. Faun1083’s novel mechanism of action has the potential to address this gap, improving quality of life and outcomes for patients living with this debilitating condition.
About Fauna Bio
Fauna Bio is a biotechnology company pioneering the use of extreme mammal biology and comparative genomics to discover novel therapeutic targets and develop transformative medicines. By leveraging its proprietary Convergence™ platform to compare gene expression in animal species, Fauna Bio identifies naturally occurring disease resistance mechanisms and translates these discoveries into innovative therapies for conditions with high unmet medical need. The company is based in Emeryville, CA. For more information, visit www.faunabio.com.
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