Pendulum lands US$54M for glucose control synbiotic, eyes diabetes potential

08 Apr 2021 --- Pendulum Therapeutics has raised US$54 million in its series C funding round for its products targeting the microbiome. This almost doubles the entirety of Pendulum’s previous raises and brings the total venture capital raised to US$111 million.

The funding will help increase the manufacturing and sales of the company’s first product, Pendulum Glucose Control (PGC). Launched last year, the offering is touted as the only probiotic clinically shown to lower blood sugar spikes and A1C levels in people with Type 2 diabetes (T2D), even on top of metformin.

The money will also go toward ramping up the manufacturing of pipeline products to address the management of other chronic diseases.

Additionally, it will enable Pendulum to conduct additional research – including clinical trials – to further prove the company’s primary hypothesis: The microbiome is the most exciting and promising frontier in health and nutrition science.Cutcliffe notes that Pendulum’s direct-to-consumer path is more nimble than its pharma peers. 

“Huge white space”
The investment round was led by Meritech Capital with participation from existing investors including Sequoia Capital, True Ventures and Khosla Ventures.

As lead investor, Meritech general partner Craig Sherman will take a seat on the Pendulum board of directors alongside Roelof Botha, a partner at Sequoia, and Adam D’Augelli, a partner at True Ventures.

“Craig, Roelof and I are excited about Pendulum because they are using the microbiome in an entirely new way to create a never-before-seen product. There’s a huge white space here,” says D’Augelli.

He argues that with many supplements, there’s no way to tell if they’re even working, while medicines are synthetic and can have side effects.

“At Pendulum, ingredients are sourced from the microbiome that naturally lives within our bodies, and their formulas are rigorously tested for safety and effectiveness. This new hybrid product Pendulum has created is safe, requires less capital than a drug to bring to market and could be incredibly beneficial for millions of people,” D’Augelli continues. 

Sherman predicts that Pendulum could “be another 10x Genomics, Datadog, Snowflake or Roblox,” which are Meritech investments that went public in the last two years.

“Pendulum feels like it could be that, because it is creating something that’s differentiated and could truly change a person’s life,” he says. 

Targeting butyrate production
According to Pendulum, people with T2D lose beneficial bacterial strains that help digest dietary fiber and produce butyrate, a key molecule needed for balancing insulin and glucose levels. 

Butyrate is responsible for initiating metabolic pathways, specifically GLP-1 and insulin secretion. In people with T2D who are missing these key strains, the fiber they eat is not metabolized into metabolites such as butyrate. Therefore, fiber cannot stimulate GLP-1 release and contribute to insulin and glucose regulation.

Additionally, the immune system is compromised when there is not enough butyrate production in the microbiome. 

Part of the way PCG helps people with T2D is by addressing butyrate. The symbiotic contains a prebiotic, as well as five targeted probiotic strains.

• Akkermansia muciniphila WB-STR-0001: People with T2D have been shown to have lower levels of this probiotic and gut-lining modulation.
• Eubacterium hallii WB-STR-0008: A butyrate-producing probiotic that can only be found in PGC.
• Clostridium beijerinckii WB-STR-0005: A butyrate-producing probiotic naturally found in the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
• Clostridium butyricum WB-STR-0006: A probiotic naturally found in the human gut microbiome for digestive and immune health.
• Bifidobacterium infantis 100: A probiotic naturally found in the human oral cavity and GI tract for digestive health.
• Inulin: A prebiotic that helps maintain healthy blood sugar.

PCG contains a prebiotic, as well as five targeted probiotic strains.“While our direct-to-consumer path is more nimble than our pharma peers, we will never cut corners. Pendulum is a team of accomplished scientists, and our products will always go through rigorous testing to establish efficacy,” says Colleen Cutcliffe, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Pendulum Therapeutics.

“We believe consumers can – and should – demand hard-core scientific results from any company that is making claims about health benefits,” she adds. 

Addressing a major market
Pendulum notes that with over 120 million people living with diabetes and prediabetes, PCG holds appeal for a major market. 

The company reported a surge in demand in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021, and high customer satisfaction across several measures:

• 74 percent of subscribing customers with Type 2 diabetes are still using the product after five months.
• 86 percent of customers surveyed report lowered A1C.
• 86 percent of customers surveyed report improved gut health.
• 79 percent of customers surveyed report lowered glucose levels/spikes.

Other industry movers are also addressing the needs of people with diabetes. Sugarbreak, a supplement brand helping curb sweet cravings and sugar intake, recently launched a children’s line.

Meanwhile, Advanced Micronutrition is promoting the use of food as medicine to help address diseases like diabetes. 

By Katherine Durrell