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Helicore Biopharma
Helicore Biopharma is a South San Francisco clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company building first-in-class GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) antagonists for obesity and cardiometabolic disease. Its lead candidate, HCR-188, is a humanized monoclonal antibody that binds circulating GIP ligand rather than the GIP receptor, a mechanism designed to improve the quality of weight loss - favoring fat loss over lean mass when paired with GLP-1 - and to restore leptin sensitivity. Incubated by Versant Ventures, the company emerged from stealth in January 2025 with a $65 million Series A and is advancing a pipeline of long-acting antibody-peptide conjugates aimed at quarterly dosing.
Peter DiLaura
Peter DiLaura is the CEO and Board Director of Helicore Biopharma, a San Mateo biotech building long-acting antibody-peptide conjugates that go after obesity by neutralizing the GIP hormone in the bloodstream rather than blocking its receptor. With nearly three decades of company-building behind him - CEO roles at Initial Therapeutics and Second Genome, business and strategy chief at Sonoma Biotherapeutics, and time as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Third Rock Ventures - he is the operator brought in to turn a $65M Series A and a clinic-ready antibody into medicines that aim for quarterly dosing and better-quality weight loss.