Innovation Leads to Disruption

Allakos is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies to treat a variety of allergic and inflammatory diseases. Allakos is primarily focused on eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders (EGIDs), leveraging industry-leading expertise in eosinophil and mast cell biology. The Company’s lead candidate, antolimab, is currently being tested in clinical trials across several gastrointestinal, skin and ophthalmic diseases.

Ally Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to solving the immune response issues that limit the safety and efficacy of in vivo gene therapies

Amplitude Therapeutics, Inc. is a private company founded by Cory Sago, Ph.D., and seeded by Arch Venture Partners and Alta Partners. The Board consists of Cory Sago, Julie Sunderland, and Jay Parrish, a founder of VIR Biotechnology with Arch and Alta.

Cory Sago founded Guide Therapeutics, an LNP (Liquid Nando Particle) formulation company that sold to Beam Therapeutics for $120 million upfront and $320 million in milestones.

Cory has been working with Amplifying RNA for its use in vaccines that may require the characteristics of Amplifying RNA rather than traditional mRNA for therapeutic dosing. There are potential applications in 4 areas, and the Company is conducting experiments to guide the strategy going forward.

Be Biopharma is pioneering Engineered B Cell Medicines (BCM) to dramatically improve patients’ lives who are living with cancer, rare diseases, and other serious conditions. With eyes locked on the patient, their team of purpose-driven scientists, technologists, manufacturing experts, and business builders collaborate to create a bold new class of cell therapies. Be Bio was founded in October 2020 by B cell engineering pioneers David Rawlings, M.D., and Richard James, Ph.D., from Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

CuraSen Therapeutics, Inc. is a private clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases targeting mechanisms with broad applicability, including neurogenic orthostatic hypotension, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, and certain orphan indications. CuraSen’s drugs are small molecules, given as oral tablets, designed to directly activate certain receptor populations in the brain and periphery to compensate for decline of the adrenergic system driven by aging and neurologic disease.

DEM BioPharma  is a private company pioneering the next generation of immunotherapeutics that unleash the innate immune system to eliminate tumors by targeting ‘don’t eat me’ (DEM) and ‘eat me’ (EM) signals on cancer cells, macrophages, and other myeloid effector cells. The Company’s approach builds on the groundbreaking functional genomics research and discoveries in macrophage biology from its scientific co-founders, Drs. Jonathan Weissman and Kipp Weiskopf of the Whitehead Institute and Dr. Michael Bassik of Stanford University. The proprietary CHoMP™ platform (Co-culture with Human Myeloid Phagocytes) utilizes CRISPR-based functional genomic screens in human cancer cells and/or primary macrophages to discover and validate new DEM and EM signals that could profoundly induce and enhance cancer cell elimination through increased phagocytosis.

Edgewood Oncology, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company founded to deliver on the promise of BTX-A51 for patients with hematologic malignancies and genetically defined solid tumors. BTX-A51 is an investigational, first-in-class, small molecule, multi-selective kinase inhibitor of CK1α, CDK7, and CDK9 that synergistically co-targets master regulators of cancer to activate programmed cell death or apoptosis. BTX-A51 holds promise in acute myeloid leukemia and genetically defined solid tumors, which are the focus of ongoing clinical programs.

eGenesis is a gene-editing and a genome-engineering company developing human-compatible organs and cells.  eGenesis’ goal is to transform the field of transplantation by offering safe and effective organs and cells to patients in need. The Company harnesses gene editing technology including CRISPR to address the key issues that have impeded xenotransplantation to date. eGenesis’ development pipeline includes lead programs for kidney and islet cell transplants as well as earlier-stage programs focused on other solid organs.

ImmuneID is a precision immunology company using its proprietary platform to simultaneously identify and therapeutically target millions of antibody interactions that drive immune diseases. The Company is employing its massively parallel, multiplexed, and unbiased systems to develop therapeutics for autoimmunity, severe allergy, oncology and infectious disease.

Kelonia is pioneering a new wave of genetic medicines using its next-generation gene delivery platform. The Company’s simple and elegant cutting-edge in vivo gene delivery technology uses a few potent lentiviral vector-like particles to precisely and efficiently deliver in vivo genetic cargo to the desired target tissue, and only that tissue, every time. With an initial focus on developing transformational therapies for solid tumors and hematologic cancers, Kelonia is building a pipeline of genetic medicines for a wide range of diseases, with the bold goal of bringing genetic medicines to every patient in need.

Lassen Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech developing first-in-class antibodies as potential treatments for fibrosis, thyroid eye disease, and oncology. The Company’s lead candidate, LASN01, is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody targeting IL-11 receptor (IL-11R). IL-11 is a central mediator of fibrosis and blocking its activity has the potential to offer a novel modality for treatment of Thyroid Eye Disease (“TED”) and other fibrotic diseases.

MBrace is a private biotechnology company with a primary focus on developing new treatments for patients with cancer, based on the Selection of Phage Accessible Recombinant Targeted Antibodies (“SPARTA”) technology pioneered by the founders of the Company.  The goal is to develop, validate, and optimize therapeutically functional, anti-tumor monoclonal human recombinant antibodies and use these validated human antibodies to make antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for novel targets in solid tumors.

Novome Biotechnologies, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on engineering defined activities into the human gut microbiota to treat chronic diseases. The Company has developed the first-ever platform for controlled colonization of the gut with engineered bacteria, enabling first-in-class living therapeutics: Genetically Engineered Microbial Medicines (GEMMs).

Progentos is developing first-in-class compounds to induce endogenous oligodendrocyte progenitor cells to remyelinate axons in patients suffering from MS and other demyelinating diseases. Combining expertise in chemistry, biology, and in vivo models, Progentos discovers and develops novel small-molecule drugs to regenerate tissues in patients with degenerative diseases.

Qihan Biotech is a biotechnology company applying genome-editing technology to develop novel cell therapies and organs for transplantation. The Company’s mission is to use high throughput, multiplexable genome editing in combination with expertise in transplantation immunology to create immunologically privileged allogeneic cells and xenogeneic organs for use as therapies to treat cancer, organ failure, and other important medical conditions.

Scithera, Inc. is a new company founded by Brendan Eckelman in San Diego. Brendan was the founder and CSO of Inhibrx, a protein engineering company that has had a great deal of clinical success, and a two-part exit through a product acquisition by Sanofi, and a public company progressing multiple programs, all of which Brendan was a significant part of discovery and development. Brendan and his team are focused on novel Antibody Drug Conjugates (“ADC”) for oncology and auto immune disease.

Tyra Biosciences is a public precision oncology company focused on developing purpose-built therapies to overcome tumor resistance and improve outcomes for patients with cancer. Using its proprietary platform, TYRA is initially focused on developing a pipeline of selective inhibitors of the FGFR family members, which are altered in approximately 7% of all cancers. Its lead product is candidate TYRA-300 (for bladder cancer) and TYRA-200 (for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma).

Variant Bio is developing therapies that will improve global health by studying the genes of people who are outliers for medically relevant traits.

Vir Biotechnology is a public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on powering the immune system to transform lives by discovering and developing medicines for serious infectious diseases and cancer. Its clinical-stage portfolio includes infectious disease programs for chronic hepatitis delta and chronic hepatitis B infections and multiple double-masked T-cell engagers across validated targets in solid tumor indications. Vir Biotechnology also has a preclinical portfolio of programs across a range of infectious diseases and oncologic malignancies.