Daisy Robinton, PhD

As it prepares for an IPO, CAMP4 Therapeutics has lined up a small $1 million upfront pact with BioMarin, a longstanding California biotech that has trimmed its pipeline, changed leadership and laid off many workers as it looks to right its ship. CAMP4 could go public as $CAMP as early as next week after filing for its Nasdaq listing last month. The company could get up to $370 million from the BioMarin partnership, which will focus on creating two antisense oligonucleotides. The startup also has tie-ups with Fulcrum Therapeutics and Eli Lilly. In its infancy, CAMP4 had deals with Biogen and Alnylam but later scrapped those as it shifted course. #camp4 #rnamedicines #regulatoryrna #asos #oligonucleotides #biomarin #biotechpartnership #biotech #ipo

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Faeth Therapeutics CEO and Co-Founder Anand Parikh says the potential of Artificial Intelligence to accelerate medical discovery is immense, particularly within biology. Embracing AI in biology means tackling some of the most complex and variable aspects of science for the very first time. By focusing AI’s power on the untapped potential of the metabolic genome in cancer research, for example, we are not just making incremental improvements but are positioned to make quantum leaps in understanding, managing and treating cancer. By doing so, we are setting the stage for discoveries that could fundamentally alter our approach to health and disease, making biology the next great frontier for AI. Read Anand's full thoughts in Drug Discovery & Development: https://lnkd.in/gA3A9sgS

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Versant Ventures debuts Santa Ana Bio, Inc. (Alameda) with $168 million and a trio of programs that riff in new ways on existing ideas like targeting mast cells and stimulating the PD-1 pathway. One of Santa Ana’s drugs, dubbed SAB01, is a so-called bispecific #antibody. It is designed to mute the mast cells that drive allergic disease by blocking a protein called c-Kit. But the drug will only do so when it detects another target that’s found on those cells. Foresite Capital (Larkspur) an investment firm that backs life sciences and healthcare companies, has raised a $900 million fund. The fund, Foresite’s sixth, will invest in companies focused on precision medicine, healthcare delivery and life sciences infrastructure. In drug developers, specifically, the firm is looking for those using #genetics and #machinelearning to identify potential therapies. Actio Biosciences, Inc. (San Diego) announces $55 Million Series A financing to deploy a suite of proprietary tools and deep #genetics expertise to develop #therapeutics against targets shared between rare and more prevalent diseases. They have a lead small molecule program targeting TRPV4 mutations advancing toward clinic for treatment of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2C and other serious bone diseases. Actio also announced an innovative partnership with The Jackson Laboratory to develop and implement new transgenic models of rare disease pathways. M&A, Deals, Partnerships: Johnson & Johnson is handing back a bispecific T cell engager program designed to target both CD20 and CD3 to its partner Xencor, ending a significant piece of an agreement between the companies that started in 2021. Xencor completed enrollment for a Phase 1 trial of plamotamab last year. The biotech said the drug is now Phase 2-ready, adding it will review its potential to address unmet needs. The original collaboration and license deal saw Xencor get $100 million upfront for global development and commercialization rights to plamotamab. Other Interesting News: The failure of a Pfizer medicine for #Duchenne muscular dystrophy adds new uncertainty around the effectiveness of #genetherapy for the muscle-wasting condition. Pfizer said the treatment missed its mark in a definitive Phase 3 study of boys between 4 and 7 years of age with DMD. Pfizer said the therapy didn’t lead to a significant difference versus placebo on a measure of motor function, or on key secondary measures such as timed tests for how quickly study participants could stand or walk. Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (San Diego) drug for muscular dystrophy shows promise. Shares in Avidity rose by nearly one-third as the company revealed new clinical trial data for its drug del-brax in a form of #musculardystrophy.  Among eight patients treated with del-brax, Avidity reported greater than 50% average reduction in a panel of genes regulated by another gene called DUX4. Avidity also said participants showed signs of increased strength.

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Congratulations to Alex, Lindsay, Michelle, and the rest of the Talus Bio team on the latest financing! This will be transformative for the team as they work to develop new drugs to target transcription factors. 👩‍🔬 What does the company do? Talus uses their platform to test for the effect of novel TF-targeted drugs in a live cell opening up the possibility of drugging many previously 'undruggable' targets. 💊 What do they have so far? The company is working on four targets including #brachyury for treating a rare cancer called #chordoma. 💸 Who is investing? The round is led by a stellar team at Two Bear Capital (J. Seth Strattan PhD and Avery Sonnenberg), with participation from Washington Research Foundation, BoxOne Ventures, and NFX 🌎 Why does this matter? Talus has an impressive technology that hopefully can create new treatment options for some serious conditions. The team worked doggedly to build the company off of grants in a harsh market cycle and this investment validates how far they've come. I'm excited to have this team in Seattle helping build the next generation of great biotech companies here! #biotech #financing #company #seattle

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One of my favorite parts in my conversation with bit.bio CEO, Mark Kotter, is how we keep coming back to First Principles, and this idea of letting things be simple. From finding a high-level sense of purpose at a time when he felt quite lost… To showing up at a Professor’s lab and saying “I’d like to work with you and do some research”... Mark finds a way to simplify the things so many of us over-think. And while it’s worth noting that “simple” doesn’t necessarily mean “easy” – taking Mark’s lead and letting First Principles guide your approach is surely easier than trying to plot the details before you know the goal. It was such a profound conversation, wrapped in the stories of his early schooling and career… I hope it gives you as many “aha” moments as it did for me. Additional topics discussed: – Finding a “hack” for his dyslexia in the simple act of asking “how” or “why” something worked – Landing a research position at University of Cambridge through a mix of luck, networking, and simply asking for the opportunity – Joining Professor Blakemore's lab at vet school, the value of immediate feedback loops and rigorous training, and the unique research opportunities in the early days of stem cell work – First principles, letting purpose guide the big decisions, and letting the details fill themselves in along the way Apple Podcasts & Spotify links in the comments below! 👇🏽 #biotechnology #lifesciences #podcast

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Serial biotech founder George Church has a new startup, and this time, he has skin in the game, quite literally. Church, the enigmatic founder behind companies including eGenesis, Editas Medicine, and Colossal Biosciences, donated some of his own skin cells for use at his new cell therapy startup GC Therapeutics. (And yes, the letters in the company’s name stand for “George Church.”) Click through to hear more about GC's approach and its fundraising journey in a time when cell therapies are getting less attention from investors: #celltherapy #startup #iPSCs #entrepreneur #founderstories #venturecapital #VC #startupstrategies STAT

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Kopra Bio (YC S24) makes stealthy viruses that teach your immune system to kill cancer. Founded by Andrew Bartynski and Alexander Haddad, a repeat YC-backed founder and a UCSF Neurosurgeon, Kopra is making the next Keytruda, a $25B/yr cancer drug blockbuster. They're starting with the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma 🧠. In preclinical models, their treatment improves survival from 0 to 90%. State-of-the-art cancer therapies target tumor mutations one by one. Despite more than 550 cancer drug approvals since the year 2000, there are still 10 million cancer deaths each year. This approach is expensive ($1B per therapy), slow (10 years of development per drug), and incremental (only one mutation addressed per therapy). Even the most successful cancer drugs of all time have success rates of less than 10% in solid tumors. Kopra Bio infects cancer cells using stealthy viruses that spread throughout tumors and hijacks them to produce immune signals. The immune signals recruit T cells which then kill the cancer. This process teaches the patient’s immune system to kill their tumor - in vivo - curing their cancer and eliminating metastasis and recurrence. They have demonstrated efficacy in the most challenging brain cancer models increasing survival from 0% without treatment to greater than 90% with their treatment. If you’re as excited about eradicating cancer and would like to learn more, reach out to [email protected]. Congrats on the launch, Andrew and Alexander! 🚀 https://lnkd.in/gvb3UZsj

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What a special experience to have attended and spoken at the Stanford Drug Discovery Symposium, #SDDS2024. This meeting is just simply outstanding, one-of-a-kind. Shown here with the incomparable Robert Plenge, who with his usual clarity and aplomb discussed his systematic approach toward target selection and prosecution, dialing in the right targets, the right modality, the right patients and the right execution. Kudos and thanks to the organizers Joseph C. Wu, Sanjay Malhotra, Kuldev Singh, Mark Mercola, Amanda Chase and Francesca Mae G. Tongco.

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This kind of creativity can make all the difference between success and failure in biotech. Thanks for the insights Sheila Ann Mikhail!

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Imagine transforming clinical studies from regulatory checkboxes to powerful sales engines. ​ May 2nd is your opportunity to learn from a master. ​ Meet 𝐁𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐫, 𝐌𝐃, 𝐏𝐡𝐃 - a titan in digital health, lead clinical advisor at Manos Health and researcher and hospitalist at UCSF. ​ Dr. Rosner's will be leading our 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 workshop. ​ But this isn't just another academic exercise. It's a deep dive into leveraging validation studies for market dominance. ​ Why settle for traditional when you can: ​ 🚀 Propel your clinical trials from costly obligations to potent revenue streams. 🧭 Navigate the complex studies decisions with ease, selecting only the most impactful and cost-effective. ✍🏻 Seamlessly translate hard data into compelling marketing narratives that captivate your target customers. ​ This workshop is designed for the forward-thinking Founders, Health-Tech Executives, and Product Leaders. ​ As a bonus, we’ll also be sharing the internal tools we use with clients: ​ 🧬 Study Type Diagnostic (Determine the best and most cost-effective trial for your stage) 📈 Marketing Dissemination Templates (How to share your study results across socials and other marketing) ✅ Trial Readiness Checklist (What you need to get together to be ready to start with trials) ​ Spaces are limited. Get your spot here ​ 

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Hello, curious minds! This week's news really puts the ‘bio’ in biotech… Dartmouth College's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience unveils new neuroimaging tech to supercharge brain research, Cardurion Pharmaceuticals gets a Series B boost for heart health treatments, fresh investment sees NGM Biopharmaceuticals pivot back to private equity, and Agenus faces FDA setbacks. Plus, scientists have found a way to extend mice lifespans by switching off an inflammation-causing protein – could this be the key to healthier ageing for humans? This week’s biotech roundup includes…👇 🔍 FDA blocks Agenus' accelerated approval plans (Amber Tong) 💸 NGM, now private, raises $122M for redrawn research plans (Delilah Alvarado) 🧠 New cortical surface template provides greater accuracy in neuroimaging (News Medical) 🫀 Cardurion builds cardiovascular pipeline with $260M Series B financing (Alex Philippidis) 🧬 Switching off inflammatory protein leads to longer lifespans (ScienceDaily) Tune into… 🎧 Pfizer’s oral GLP-1 push, Lilly vs. Novo, and PBMs under pressure (The Weekly, BioSpace) with Heather McKenzie, Jennifer "Jef" Akst and Tyler Patchen 🎧Encouraging AI adoption in teams (AI for Pharma Growth) with Dr. Andrée Bates and Tim Cakir, CEO of TaskDrive Apply to… 📎 Financial Accountant, bit.bio 📎 Senior Mammalian Engineer, Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. Keep your pulse on these groundbreaking developments and sign up for the weekly Biotech Dodo Newsletter. Issue #06 out now: https://lnkd.in/gvbQyegb #BiotechDodo #Biotech #Pharma #DigitalHealth #HealthTech

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