AgomAb files for U.S. IPO as fibrosis-focused pipeline moves deeper into the clinic

Since its founding, AgomAb has raised close to €300 million, with a shareholder base that includes a mix of life sciences investors and strategic pharma backers such as EQT Life Sciences, Fidelity, Pfizer, and Sanofi.

AgomAb’s approach to inflammatory diseases

In a lot of chronic inflammatory diseases, shutting down immune signalling is only part of the story. Over time, repeated injury can trigger fibrosis, with tissue remodeling and scarring becoming part of the disease itself. At that point, the condition is no longer just inflammatory but structural, and this is the starting point of AgomAb’s strategy.

In Crohn’s disease, most approved therapies are built to control immune-driven inflammation, and are in a majority of cases very effective. But a meaningful subset of patients also develop strictures, where chronic injury triggers tissue remodeling and scarring that physically narrows the bowel. And there is currently no drug with a proven, specific anti-fibrotic effect for Crohn’s strictures, which is why many patients with fibrostenosing disease still end up needing endoscopic intervention or surgery. 

AgomAb’s lead program, ontunisertib (AGMB-129), is designed to target that fibrosis biology and not only the inflammatory component. It is an oral, gut-restricted small-molecule inhibitor of ALK5 (TGFβR1), a receptor in the TGF-β signalling pathway that is implicated in fibrotic remodeling. 

The delivery strategy is part of its competitive angle. Systemic blockade of the pathway can be challenging to pursue, so AgomAb is leaning into local exposure in the gut as a way to engage the target where strictures form to limit systemic effects.

In the broader landscape, that puts AgomAb in a comparatively sparse lane within inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) drug development, as the crowded part of the Crohn’s market is still dominated by inflammation-focused mechanisms.

That said, AgomAb is not the only company trying to tackle fibrosis in Crohn’s disease. A small number of biotechs are exploring anti-fibrotic approaches, but most remain early-stage. These include Redx Pharma’s GI-targeted ROCK inhibitor RXC008 for fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease, as well as earlier or preclinical programs from companies like Palisade Bio and fibrosis-focused platform players such as Engitix, which has partnered with Takeda to explore extracellular matrix-driven fibrosis in IBD and recently raised $25million.

The company’s second clinical program, AGMB-447, takes the same pathway into the lung. It is an inhaled, lung-restricted ALK5 inhibitor being evaluated in early clinical development for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).

Momentum for AgomAb and the broader IPO landscape

AgomAb’s IPO filing comes at a moment when its clinical development needs it the most. In its Nasdaq filing, AgomAb frames the main spending priorities around its two clinical-stage programs, AGMB-129 and AGMB-447.

On the Crohn’s side, the near-term goal is to push ontunisertib into a larger, more definitive global study. AgomAb describes STENOVA as a global phase 2a trial in fibrostenotic Crohn’s disease, run across North America and Europe. The filing and secondary reporting around it indicate the company intends to use IPO proceeds to advance ontunisertib into a phase 2b program.

The same logic applies to AGMB-447. In early January, AgomAb announced interim phase 1 results in healthy participants and said it had initiated an IPF cohort, positioning the program for the next clinical step.

Beyond AgomAb’s offering, it seems the IPO landscape in biotech might be getting slightly brighter. After a long period where biotech listings were sporadic, early 2026 is starting to show signs of movement again. Aktis Oncology, a radiopharmaceutical developer, priced an upsized U.S. IPO at $18 per share and raised about $318 million on January 12. Around the same time as AgomAb’s filing, SpyGlass Pharma also signaled its intention to go public, while Eikon Therapeutics filed for an IPO earlier this month.

It is still early to say the IPO window is “fully open,” but it does suggest that public-market investors may be willing to engage again with a narrow set of biotechs, especially those that come with a defined clinical plan and a credible use of proceeds. AgomAb’s filing fits that pattern because it is essentially asking public markets to fund the expensive middle stretch of development.