Danish Biotech Gubra Launches Venture Arm to Spawn New Companies

By Curie | Biotech Reporter

March 13, 2026 — Danish biotech Gubra is doubling down on company building. The 300-employee Copenhagen-based firm, best known for its obesity partnerships with pharmaceutical giants, is launching a venture arm to spin out independent companies from its research — a strategy that echoes the hub-and-spoke model that made Roivant Sciences a $7 billion biotech powerhouse.

The new unit, Gubra Ventures, was announced in February and will be led by Zoë Johnson, a former biotech founder and researcher who previously co-founded Melio Bio and served as chief scientific officer at Affivant. The first new venture is expected to launch in the second half of 2026.

"Gubra Ventures is a natural next step in the evolution of our business model," CEO Markus Rohrwild said in a statement. "Our scientific platforms have reached a level of scale and maturity where we can explore new opportunities with greater agility."

The move comes after Gubra's landmark $350 million upfront deal with AbbVie in 2025 for ABBV-295, a long-acting amylin analogue for obesity. The partnership, which could eventually exceed $2 billion in milestone payments, validated Gubra's approach to peptide-based drug discovery and gave the company the capital to expand beyond its core partnerships.

The venture model represents a strategic shift. Rather than simply out-licensing compounds to big pharma, Gundra will create standalone companies with their own governance and leadership, designed for "capital efficiency and clarity of decision-making," according to Johnson.

The unit will focus on peptide-based therapeutics, advanced biologics, and combinations targeting cardiometabolic diseases and obesity-related complications — areas where Gubra has deep expertise. But Johnson said the ventures will also look externally for programs where Gubra can add value through its translational expertise and infrastructure.

The broader ambition: establish "new flagship therapeutic areas beyond obesity" by 2030, according to Gubra's 2025 financial report.