The Bio Report

While there have been a parade of novel therapeutic modalities in recent years, many of them are constrained by delivery challenges. Vesigen Therapeutics is developing novel drug delivery technology known as ARMMs that can transport a wide range of therapeutic payloads directly into the cytoplasm of target cells. We spoke to Paulash Mohsen, CEO of Vesigen, about the company’s delivery technology,...

The body has a natural mechanism for breaking down and clearing proteins. Arvinas is among a group of companies that’s seeking to harness this mechanism for therapeutic purposes. It has platform technology that enables the development of targeted protein degraders to breakdown disease-causing proteins. Among the benefits of this approach is that it offers a way to target so-called undruggable prot...

The traditional approach to treating autoimmune disease has relied on ways to suppress the immune system. COUR Pharmaceuticals is developing first-in-class therapies that instead seek to reprogram the immune system to create antigen-specific tolerance. We spoke to COUR CEO John Puisis and COUR Vice President of Research Adam Elhofy, about how the company’s immune-modifying nanoparticles work, how...

The next blockbuster drug may already be in production by bacteria within your body. Bacteria produce unique chemical compounds that are bioactive and may have great therapeutic potential, but this chemical space has largely not been mined. Empress Therapeutics, a Flagship Pioneering company, is searching for such molecules by exploring the genes of bacteria that live in the human body to search f...

In most cases, the immune system detects and destroys cells that could become cancerous every day. For cancer to ravage the body, it needs to evade the immune system by shutting off its response. SIRPant Immunotherapeutics is seeking to address cancer by activating and modifying a patient’s own macrophages to awaken the immune system to cancer. The activated macrophages are able to recognize and d...

As the founder of SynBioBeta, John Cumbers has long evangelized to investors, entrepreneurs, and forward-thinking industrialists about the emergence of the bioeconomy. Cumbers, however, wants to share his sense of wonder about molecular biology with a broader audience through his new venture, Biological Enlightenment Studios. His ambition is for the studio to become a Pixar for curious-minded youn...

Electronic health records are a rich source of real-world data that can provide insights into health and wellness. Neal Meropol, head of research oncology at Flatiron Health, said they not only have value as a research tool for retrospective studies, but can be a treasure trove of information for prospective studies as well. We spoke to Meropol about how real-world evidence can inform better clini...

Earlier this year, Profluent announced it had edited the human genome with OpenCRISPR-1, the world’s first AI-created and open-source gene editor. Though the open-source aspect helped garner attention for Profluent, it also served as a demonstration of the company’s generative AI platform to create novel CRISPR gene editors. We spoke to Hilary Eaton, chief business officer for Profluent, about how...

About 500,000 people suffer from a spinal cord injury each year. Treatments can involve surgical procedures to stabilize the spine and physical rehabilitation, which can have limited benefits. There are currently no FDA-approved therapies that can promote repair and improve function following a spinal cord injury. NervGen Pharma is seeking to change that by developing therapies that allow the nerv...

One of the challenges of treating neurodegenerative diseases is delivering therapies across the blood-brain barrier. Aliada Therapeutics is developing therapies that use its platform technology that enables the delivery of large molecules, like antibodies, across that barrier. Its lead program is in development to treat Alzheimer’s disease. We spoke to John Dunlop, chief scientific officer of Alia...

SalubrisBio, rather than shy away from complexity, embraces it. The company’s lead experimental therapy is an antibody fusion protein in development for both heart failure and the rare, neurodevelopmental condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We spoke to Sam Murphy, CEO of SalubrisBio, about the challenges of pursuing complex diseases with complex therapies, its pipeline, and how its China-base...

One of the challenges facing genetic medicines is delivering payloads across the human cell membrane and inside cells both effectively and with high tolerability. Aegis Life is capitalizing on its parent Entos Pharmaceuticals’ nucleic acid delivery platform technology to address infectious diseases. It recently secured investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help in the fight ag...

The idea of developing cancer vaccines that harness dendritic cells is not new, but Diakonos Oncology thinks it’s been able to solve the lack of efficacy that has plagued this approach. The company combines its vaccines with RNA and proteins from a patient’s tumor to trigger a robust response by tricking the immune system to recognize cancer cells as being virally infected. We spoke to Jay Hartenb...

Kinase inhibitors have given rise to an era of precision medicine for the treatment of cancer, but the ability of cancer cells to mutate enables tumors to develop resistance to existing therapies. Nuvalent is developing therapies that both target the original tumor as well tumors with emergent resistance. We spoke to James Porter, CEO of Nuvalent, about how it designs drugs that address the challe...

Each year, an estimated 400,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with Lyme disease, a billion-dollar healthcare problem caused by a bacterial infection that is transmitted through the bite of a tick. The condition can cause joint pain and fatigue, but is treatable with antibiotics. Left untreated, though, it can progress and cause more serious symptoms including facial palsy, an irreg...

In February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte, or TIL therapy, for solid tumors. The approval was hailed as a milestone that points the path forward for a new class of cell therapies for solid tumors. We spoke to Jason Bock, CEO of CMTC, the joint venture between Resilience and MD Anderson Cancer Center, about the emerging area of TIL therapies...

Lipids have long been used as drug delivery vehicles, but HighField Biopharmaceutics is repurposing lipids as drugs to fight cancer. The company’s technology platform is seeking to change the immunotherapy landscape with new treatments that are better targeted, more potent, and less toxic. We spoke to Don Wyatt, chief business officer for HighField Biopharmaceuticals, about the tumor microenvironm...

Jeremiah Robison’s daughter Sofia was born with cerebral palsy, a congenital movement disorder. Watching her physicians use body monitors to measure her gait, and later apply functional electrical stimulation as physical therapy, gave him an idea to combine the two to create a sleeve that could be worn on her leg to improve her ability to walk. Now Cionic, the company he co-founded, is producing i...

Physicians treating people with burns typically incorrectly assess the depth of burn wounds in about 25 to 30 percent of cases. That, in part, is due to a lack of diagnostic tools to assess the severity of a burn and to determine the best approach to treatment. Spectral AI has developed the DeepView System, a predictive device that offers clinicians an objective and immediate assessment of a wound...

New York City is not the first place that comes to mind when thinking of biotech clusters, but the Big Apple has been a growing center of biomedical innovation with its mix of academic research hospitals, finance, and growing number of biopharmaceutical companies. One place that’s seeking to serve as both a home to innovative companies and facilitate collaborations is Cure, which describes itself...

Funding levels, drug launches, and R&D success rates all grew in 2023, according to a new report from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science. Global funding of biopharmaceutical research and development increased to $72 billion, up from $61 billion in 2022. M&A activity jumped to $140 billion from $78 billion during the same period. We spoke to Murray Aitken, executive director of the...

In January 2023, AstraZeneca agreed to acquire CinCor Pharma, the CinRx cardio-renal disease therapy subsidiary, for $1.3 billion. The deal included a potential additional $500 million milestone payment. The price represented a 121 percent premium to CinCor’s market value at the time and could grow to more than a 200 percent premium if the milestone is met. The sale represented validation of CinRX...

Antibody-drug conjugates can deliver chemotherapy directly to tumors but more than 95 percent of the dose often ends up in healthy tissues, decreasing efficacy and increasing toxicity. Mythic Therapeutics FateControl technology improves the uptake of ADCs in cancerous cells while avoiding the release of their toxic payloads in healthy ones. This promises to increase efficacy of these therapies in...

The HGF/MET neurotrophic system plays a critical role in the maintenance and repair of connections in the brain. Enhanced signaling along this pathway has the potential to reduce inflammation, slow neurodegeneration, and provide neuroprotection. Athira Pharma is pursuing small molecule drugs that target this pathway to address a range of neurodegenerative conditions. The company is currently condu...

The advent of induced pluripotent stem cells, cells that can be coaxed into becoming virtually any type of cell within the body, promised to usher in a new era of regenerative medicine and improved drug discovery. In practice, though, the ability to use these cells to develop desired cell types has proved challenging to do in a predictable way and at scale. Bit.bio, has developed a synthetic biolo...