Vision Care Group CEO Masayo Takahashi led the world's first clinical study of a retinal cell transplant derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) in 2014 when she led the Laboratory for Retinal Regeneration at Japan’s Riken Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research. In 2019, she founded Vision Care and subsequently founded two subsidiary companies dedicated to developing cell and gene therapies.
Axelia Oncology Pty Ltd. was spun out of Ena Respiratory Pty. Ltd., which developed a series of synthetic Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2/6 agonists for nasal delivery to treat respiratory infections, including influenza and SARS-CoV-2. Although the pegylated TLR 2/6 agonist, INNA-051, was initially focused on antiviral activity, the company discovered that it also worked in oncology models, and Axelia was spun out to focus on oncology, CEO Phil Kearney told BioWorld.
The field of peptides is exploding, Perpetual Medicines Corp. co-founder, chairman and CEO Kerry L. Blanchard recently told BioWorld, “with a projected growth rate far surpassing large and small molecules, and gene therapies. The area is underinvested, too, so this is a good opportunity to focus on peptide therapeutics.”
The field of peptides is exploding, Perpetual Medicines Corp. co-founder, chairman and CEO Kerry L. Blanchard recently told BioWorld, “with a projected growth rate far surpassing large and small molecules, and gene therapies. The area is underinvested, too, so this is a good opportunity to focus on peptide therapeutics.”
Japan-California startup Shinobi Therapeutics Inc. has emerged from stealth mode with a $51 million series A round to advance its first off-the-shelf induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS)-T cell therapy against glypigan-3 (GPC3)-positive cancers toward the clinic.
“Aging is not only slow, but it is irreversible, and that is what most people have been suspecting,” Gero Pte Ltd.’s CEO Peter Fedichev recently told BioWorld. “[But] aging is not an inevitable part of human existence.” By setting limits to what science can do – and not do – for aging, the Palo Alto, Calif.- and Singapore-based generative artificial intelligence (AI) biotech Gero is trying to figure out and, at the same time help the industry, “see what is actionable, reversible and what may not be” to help people avoid “hitting their heads against the wall” when tackling aging and aging-related diseases.
Peel Therapeutics believes evolutionary biology holds the key to developing new therapeutics for cancer and inflammation, a relatively unique approach in the world of biotech, but one that is bearing fruit: Its lead molecule is derived from camptothecin, a compound originating from the Chinese Happy Tree that is thought to have evolved as a plant defense mechanism, and it has progressed to a phase I dose escalation study in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Angitia Biopharmaceuticals raised $46 million in a series B round extension, bringing the total raised under the series B to $170 million led by Morningside Group and will enable the company to advance its pipeline of musculoskeletal therapies.
Fledgling biotechnology company Automera has launched in Singapore with $16 million in series A funding to develop its autophagy-targeting chimera small molecules (AUTACs) platform technology. Automera co-founder and chief technology officer Loong Wang told BioWorld that he and his business partner, Taiyang Zhang, decided to move into the biotechnology space in 2021.
Arbele Ltd. founder and CEO John Luk identified and patented cadherin-17 as a therapeutic cancer target, and the company was founded to develop immunotherapies for gastrointestinal cancers, which are prevalent in Asia Pacific.
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