INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Omega Therapeutics, Inc | October 14, 2021
Omega Therapeutics, Inc. ("Omega"), a development-stage biotechnology company pioneering the first systematic approach to use mRNA therapeutics as programmable epigenetic medicines by leveraging its OMEGA Epigenomic Programing™ platform, today announced a strategic research collaboration with researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine to explore the therapeutic potential of Omega Epigenomic Controllers (OECs) to control ocular disease genes associated with inflammation or regeneration of ocular tissues.
Under the terms of the collaboration, Omega and members of the Ophthalmology Department of Stanford University School of Medicine will use the OMEGA Epigenomic Programming platform to discover and research novel ocular targets for potential future OEC development candidates. Albert Wu, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, will serve as principal investigator. Other contributors will include Jeffrey Goldberg, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Ophthalmology, and Michael Kapiloff, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor (Research) of Ophthalmology.
"Through this research collaboration, we aim to expand the reach of our OMEGA platform within regenerative medicine, immunology, and inflammation with ocular disease targets. We will continue exploration of the broad potential of our disruptive platform and OECs, our new class of mRNA therapeutics as programmable epigenetic medicines."
Mahesh Karande, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omega Therapeutics
About Omega Therapeutics
Omega Therapeutics is a development-stage biotechnology company pioneering the first systematic approach to use mRNA therapeutics as programmable epigenetic medicines by leveraging its OMEGA Epigenomic Programming™ platform. The OMEGA platform harnesses the power of epigenetics, the mechanism that controls gene expression and every aspect of an organism's life from cell genesis, growth and differentiation to cell death. The OMEGA platform enables control of fundamental epigenetic processes to correct the root cause of disease by returning aberrant gene expression to a normal range without altering native nucleic acid sequences. Omega's engineered, modular, and programmable mRNA-encoded epigenetic medicines, Omega Epigenomic Controllers™, target specific intervention points amongst the thousands of mapped and validated novel DNA-sequence-based epigenomic loci to durably tune single or multiple genes to treat and cure disease through Precision Genomic Control™. Omega is currently advancing a broad pipeline of development candidates spanning a range of disease areas, including oncology, regenerative medicine, multigenic diseases including immunology, and select monogenic diseases.
Read More
INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Blue Water Ventures International | January 20, 2022
Psycheceutical, Inc. a biotechnology company dedicated to the development and commercialization of psychedelic medicines, announced the company has been fully acquired by Blue Water Ventures International, Inc.
“We are thrilled that this deal has closed and that Psycheceutical is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of a publicly-listed company and has secured important near-term capital to pursue our growth plans. We will immediately begin the next steps of our growth strategy as we work to bring our revolutionary psychedelic drug delivery technologies to the market, starting with initial clinical trials.”
Psycheceutical CEO Chad Harman
BWVI acquired Psycheceutical, Inc. by way of a merger, resulting in Psycheceutical becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of BWVI. Now that the acquisition has occurred, BWVI intends to cease its previous business activities and the company will focus solely on psychedelic drug development. Once regulatory approvals have been received, the company will consummate related corporate actions, including a name and symbol change.
About Psycheceutical, Inc.
Psycheceutical, Inc. is seeking to develop cutting-edge delivery technologies for safe and effective psychedelic pharmaceutical medicines. Powered by a team with more than 100 years' combined experience in development, regulatory approval processes and commercialization across the pharmaceutical industry, Psycheceutical is on a mission to bring safety and efficacy to psychedelic compounds., today announced the company has been fully acquired by Blue Water Ventures International, Inc.
Read More
INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Bicycle Therapeutics | October 26, 2021
Bicycle Therapeutics plc a biotechnology company pioneering a new and differentiated class of therapeutics based on its proprietary bicyclic peptide (Bicycle®) technology, today announced that Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, has exercised an option to initiate a new program, expanding the exclusive strategic collaboration agreement with Bicycle to discover, develop and commercialize novel Bicycle®-based immuno-oncology therapies.
Bicycle and Genentech are collaborating on the discovery and pre-clinical development of novel Bicycle-based immunotherapies against multiple targets. Pursuant to the terms of the February 2020 agreement, Genentech has exercised an option to include a new program under the agreement, triggering a $10 million payment to Bicycle. None of the compounds in Bicycle’s wholly owned oncology pipeline, including its immuno-oncology candidates, are included in the collaboration.
“We are pleased both with the progress achieved so far in our ongoing work with Genentech and that Genentech has elected to exercise an option to add a new program under the collaboration. We believe the expansion of our collaboration underscores the potential utility of Bicycles compared to other modalities, as well as the potential broad applicability of Bicycles in a wide-range of targets “We look forward to continuing to work closely with the preeminent immuno-oncology team at Genentech to develop potential new cancer treatments based on Bicycles.”
Kevin Lee, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Bicycle Therapeutics
About Bicycle Therapeutics
Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ: BCYC) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel class of medicines, referred to as Bicycles, for diseases that are underserved by existing therapeutics. Bicycles are fully synthetic short peptides constrained with small molecule scaffolds to form two loops that stabilize their structural geometry. This constraint facilitates target binding with high affinity and selectivity, making Bicycles attractive candidates for drug development. Bicycle is evaluating BT5528, a second-generation Bicycle Toxin Conjugate (BTC™) targeting EphA2, and BT8009, a second-generation BTC™ targeting Nectin-4, a well-validated tumor antigen, in company-sponsored Phase I/II trials. In addition, BT1718, a BTC™ that targets MT1-MMP, is being investigated in an ongoing Phase I/IIa clinical trial sponsored by the Centre for Drug Development of Cancer Research UK. Bicycle is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with many key functions and members of its leadership team located in Lexington, MA. For more information, visit bicycletherapeutics.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,” “seeks,” “will” and variations of these words or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Bicycle’s collaboration with Genentech; the discovery, development and potential commercialization of potential product candidates using Bicycle’s technology and under the collaboration agreement; the therapeutic potential for Bicycles in immuno-oncology and other applications; and the potential to receive milestone payments and royalties under the strategic collaboration agreement. Bicycle may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including: the risk that Bicycle may not realize the intended benefits of its technology or of the collaboration agreement with Genentech, including that Bicycle and Genentech may not successfully identify, develop and commercialize additional product candidates; the risk that Bicycle may not be able to maintain its collaboration with Genentech and realize the benefits thereof; and other important factors, any of which could cause Bicycle’s actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, are described in greater detail in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Bicycle’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 5, 2021, as well as in other filings Bicycle may make with the SEC in the future. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Bicycle expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether because of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.
Read More