INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
GluBio Therapeutics Inc | August 02, 2022
GluBio Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on developing novel targeted protein degradation (TPD) drugs, recently announced the completion of Series A+ financing of $22 million. This round is led by Qiming Venture Partners and joined by Lilly Asia Ventures and Kaitai Capital, bringing the total capital raised to nearly $90 million since its establishment in March, 2021.
The investment will help advance two molecular glue degraders with best-in-class potential into the clinic for hematological malignancies, accelerate the lead optimization entry of three first-in-class TPD drugs for solid tumors and inflammatory diseases, and further upgrade GluBio's proprietary TPD discovery platform and screening capabilities tailored for rapid discovery and optimization of small molecule protein degraders for 'undruggable' therapeutic targets.
"We are thrilled to advance molecular-glue and heterobifunctional protein degraders, which hold a great promise of eliminating disease-causing proteins that are not amenable to traditional therapeutic approaches. In the past 16 months, GluBio made tremendous progress in developing best-in-class and/or first-in-class TPD assets and state-of-the-art TPD platform, fully maximizing the therapeutic and commercial potential of TPD technologies. We completed this round within two months of Series A financing. We are grateful for the unwavering confidence investors have in our assets and platform, and confident that this round will accelerate a smooth and successful execution of our pipeline and platform."
Gang Lu, Ph.D., GluBio Founder and CEO
Dr. Kan Chen, Partner of Qiming Venture Parners, said, "Targeted protein degradation is a revolutionary technology in the biopharmaceutical field. GluBio team has extensive experience in targeted protein degradation and has built a strong platform for molecular glue and new target discovery technologies, making it a promising leader in TPD field. Qiming Venture Partners is pleased to continue our support to the company's development and hopes that GluBio will accelerate its R&D and industrialization process to bring more unmet need targets to the clinical stage and new treatment options to patients worldwide."
About GluBio Therapeutics, Inc
GluBio Therapeutics is a pioneering TPD company dedicated to developing targeted protein degraders for human diseases with unmet medical needs. Founded by seasoned drug developers with deep knowledge and expertise in TPD drug discovery, the company has established a proprietary TPD discovery platform and robust screening capability. GluBio is advancing a diverse pipeline of highly selective small-molecule degraders across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology and immunology. The company has research operations in both San Diego, CA, USA and Shanghai, China.
About Qiming Venture Partners
Founded in 2006, Qiming Venture Partners is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Hong Kong, Seattle, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Currently, Qiming Venture Partners manages eleven US Dollar funds and seven RMB funds with $9.4 billion in capital raised. Since our establishment, we have invested in outstanding companies in the Technology and Consumer (T&C) and Healthcare industries at the early and growth stages.
About Lilly Asia Ventures
Founded in 2008, Lilly Asia Ventures is a leading biomedical venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto. Our vision is to become the trusted partner for exceptional entrepreneurs seeking smart capital and to build great companies developing breakthrough products that treat diseases and improve human health.
About Kaitai Capital
Founded in 2009, Kaitai Capital is an investment management organization that mainly engages in venture capital, private equity, and wealth management businesses. Fields of investment include biotechnology, healthcare services, digital technology, agriculture technology and etc. Currently, the asset under management of Kaitai Capital has reached 50 billion RMB.
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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Anthos Therapeutics | July 14, 2022
Anthos Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing innovative therapies for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, announced that four new research updates were presented on abelacimab during the Venous Thromboembolism poster session at the ongoing International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis 2022 Congress in London, UK.
"Coagulation is a complex multilayered process and the potential benefits of inhibiting Factor XI are becoming increasingly clear. These preclinical studies add important information characterizing the pharmacodynamic effects of abelacimab and further extend our understanding of the biological effects of Factor XI inhibition. With a growing body of evidence from ongoing studies both in the clinic and the lab, and a recent FDA Fast Track designation granted for abelacimab in thrombosis associated with cancer, we are becoming increasingly confident about the potential of our novel dual-acting Factor XI/XIa inhibitor may offer in the future as a treatment advance."
Dan Bloomfield, Chief Medical Officer at Anthos Therapeutics
PB0927 - Abelacimab does not influence the effects of two commonly used antiplatelet agents in vitro
This study investigated the effects of clinically relevant doses of abelacimab on the inhibition of platelet aggregation by commonly used antiplatelet agents, aspirin and ticagrelor, in vitro. It demonstrated that abelacimab did not affect the level of antiplatelet inhibition achieved either by aspirin or ticagrelor confirming that abelacimab will not interfere with the benefits of these antiplatelet agents.
PB0925 - Abelacimab has no effect on platelet aggregation induced by TRAP-6 and collagen
FXI has been identified as a ligand to platelet receptors ApoER2 and GPIbα on the surface of stimulated platelets. This study demonstrated that abelacimab did not interfere with normal platelet aggregation following stimulation with collagen or thrombin receptor activating peptide-6 (TRAP-6) and compared with vehicle and active control (abciximab, anti-GP2b3a) suggesting that the binding of FXI to the platelet surface has no effect on primary hemostasis.
PB0548 - Abelacimab, a Factor XI/XIa Antibody Inhibits Clotting in Hemodialysis Circuits Ex Vivo
This study compared the effect of a combination of abelacimab and enoxaparin with enoxaparin alone, in an ex vivo model of hemodialysis that is aggressive due to the frequent re-circulation of blood and a lack of endothelial cells. Inhibition of FXI/FXIa by abelacimab combined with enoxaparin (but not enoxaparin alone) reduced and prevented device malfunction. This provides support for testing abelacimab in patients on hemodialysis.
While patients with severe factor XI (FXI) deficiency rarely have spontaneous bleeding, low doses of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) have been used and are effective in managing bleeding should it occur. This study was designed to evaluate whether low concentrations of rFVIIa could revert the changes in abelacimab-induced coagulation parameters as measured by rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) in whole blood in vitro assays from healthy individuals. As expected and similar to what has been observed in patients with Factor XI deficiency, these data suggest that low doses of rFVIIa can be used to manage bleeding in Factor XI inhibited patients being treated with abelacimab.
About Anthos Therapeutics
Anthos Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of genetically and pharmacologically validated innovative therapies to advance care for people living with cardiovascular and metabolic (CVM) diseases. Anthos Therapeutics aims to combine the agility of a biotech with the rigor of a large pharmaceutical company. Anthos Therapeutics was launched by Blackstone Life Sciences in 2019.
About Abelacimab
Abelacimab is a novel, highly selective, fully human monoclonal antibody designed to induce effective hemostasis-sparing anticoagulation through Factor XI inhibition. Abelacimab targets the active domain of Factor XI, demonstrating dual inhibitory activity against both Factor XI and its activated form, Factor XIa. Abelacimab can be administered intravenously (IV) to achieve rapid inhibition of Factor XI activity and then used subcutaneously (SC) monthly to maintain nearly complete inhibition in a chronic setting. In a PK/PD study, abelacimab administered IV provided profound suppression of Factor XI within one hour after the start of therapy and maintained near maximal inhibition for up to 30 days. 1,2 In a Phase 2 study whose results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021, a single intravenous dose of abelacimab after knee surgery reduced the rate of venous thromboembolism by 80%, measured 10 days after surgery, compared to enoxaparin.
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MEDTECH
SYNTHEGO | August 03, 2022
Synthego, the genome engineering company, announced the launch of Engineered Cell Libraries, a novel offering that further enables access to CRISPR by providing arrayed CRISPR-edited cells for direct use in functional screening assays. The innovative solution leverages Synthego’s Eclipse™ Platform. This high-throughput cell engineering platform delivers cell-based models for disease research by providing highly predictable CRISPR-engineered cells at scale through the integration of engineering, bioinformatics, and proprietary science. Synthego’s Engineered Cell Libraries provide unparalleled speed, scalability, and efficiency to accelerate the drug discovery process by enabling a faster path between experimental design and execution.
As the newest addition to Synthego's Engineered Cells product line, the offering is a custom arrayed library of multi-guide™ knockout cell pools (immortalized or iPSC) delivered ready-made to researchers, efficiently enabling them to bypass the need for equipment and reagent sourcing, transfection, generation of an extensive CRISPR library, and hiring and training of staff. This allows researchers to overcome common hurdles associated with CRISPR-based target discovery and focus specifically on the science.
“Arrayed screening approaches are more sensitive, compatible with a broader assortment of downstream assays, and can yield data that is more readily interpretable than the more commonly used pooled approach but are underutilized due to lack of infrastructure and limited bandwidth. With Engineered Cell Libraries, Synthego continues to provide transformative solutions for accelerated drug discovery which ultimately can bring a wider range of therapeutics to market faster.”
Travis Maures, Synthego’s Chief Technology Officer
With Engineered Cell Libraries, scientists specify the human or mouse cell type (Immortalized or iPSC available at launch) and gene targets they desire to knockout to generate a custom “Knockout Cell Library.” The cells are then edited on Synthego’s Eclipse Platform, which handles guide design, cell line optimization, editing through transfection, and assessment of editing efficiencies, so cells are ready to screen upon arrival.
Engineered Cell Libraries on the Eclipse Platform additionally benefit customers with
Scalability and flexibility - Engineered Cell Libraries allow researchers to maximize their screening power and identify more targets earlier in the screening process.
Predictability and transparency - Synthego’s multi-guide™ technology achieves reliably high knockout efficiencies so researchers can confidently proceed with their screens.
Cell engineering expertise and support - Synthego uses its expertise to bring automation innovation that provides greater consistency in outcomes and scalability.
Synthego’s Eclipse Platform and Engineered Cell Libraries enable a wide range of applications in research and development across various disease areas and research disciplines such as oncology and neurology. Engineered Cell Libraries were employed in a recent study that used genetic screening to identify host factors that either facilitate or inhibit infection by SARS-CoV-2 and that could potentially be targeted with existing drugs that have been approved for other indications.
“We were able to quickly combine our proteomic expertise with Synthego's genome engineering capabilities in a matter of weeks,” said Nevan J. Krogan, Director, Quantitative Biosciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco. “Normally, work such as this would take many years. We were able to quickly pinpoint which human genes are important for infection, and that allowed us to jump to which ones if we were able to drug them, could have a positive pharmacological effect on SARS-CoV-2 infection. That whole pipeline allowed us to identify several potential drug candidates, several of which we're still looking at.”
Ultimately, Synthego’s goal is to enable scientists to spend less time thinking about method development and more time running their functional assays. The addition of Engineered Cell Libraries is driving impact in biopharma research and development.
ABOUT SYNTHEGO
Synthego was founded to revolutionize genome engineering technology, helping translate genomics into the clinic and ultimately making engineered biological therapies accessible to all patients. The company leverages machine learning, automation, and gene editing to build platforms for science at scale. With its foundations in engineering disciplines, the company’s platforms vertically integrate proprietary hardware, software, bioinformatics, chemistries, and molecular biology to advance both basic research and therapeutic development programs. With its technologies cited in more than a thousand peer-reviewed publications and utilized by thousands of commercial and academic researchers and therapeutic drug developers, Synthego is at the forefront of innovation enabling the next generation of medicines by delivering genome editing at an unprecedented scale.
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