Wife-and-husband team, J. Jean Cui and Y. Peter Li, launched Blossomhill Therapeutics Inc. in mid-2020 to focus on next-generation, macrocyclic inhibitors against oncology targets. The couple had planned to take some time off to rest and do a little traveling, but then the pandemic hit. “This was a great time [to start a new company],” Cui told BioWorld. “Nothing to do but reading and thinking.”
Vyriad Inc. has announced the closing of a $25 million final tranche to its series B financing, bringing the total series B round to $85 million. This additional funding will support first-in-human testing of VV-169, Vyriad’s in vivo CAR T candidate, in patients with relapsed or treatment-refractory multiple myeloma.
Things once done in laboratories can now be done with computers and AI, said Kim Woo-youn, CEO and cofounder of Hits Inc. “We live in the age of ‘digital alchemy,’” Kim told BioWorld, describing how AI is shifting some drug discovery processes from physical to virtual spaces.