Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Aetna Wun Trombley.
Aetna is the CEO of South San Francisco-based Lycia Therapeutics.
Aetna Wun Trombley, CEO, Lycia Therapeutics
Many in biotech know about targeted protein degraders. Arvinas and Kymera Therapeutics are a couple of the well-known companies that make these drugs which work to inhibit intracellular proteins. This approach has drawn a lot of excitement because it can access previous ‘undruggable’ proteins, by essentially dragging them into the cellular garbage bin.
Fascinating as this is, there are many other proteins that can’t be targeted this way because they are secreted outside cells, or reside on the cell membrane. This requires a different approach. That’s where Lycia comes in.
The company is working on lysosomal targeting chimeras, known as “Lytacs” for short. Carolyn Bertozzi, the chemist who won the Nobel Prize earlier this month, has her fingerprints all over this one. Her team at Stanford University devised a method for binding both a cell surface lysosome targeting receptor and the extracellular domain of a target protein.
That work was posted in a preprint in 2019, and then a year later in Nature. Versant Ventures was among the many groups who read the preprint and wanted to get to work developing a potentially new class of medicines. They agreed to work together, Versant committed $50 million, Aetna was recruited as CEO, and the company was off and running. A little over a year ago, Lycia struck a multi-year research collaboration with Eli Lilly that brought in a $35 million upfront payment.
This is a big idea for drug discovery.
Program note: This conversation was recorded in early September, before Bertozzi won the Nobel Prize for her work on biorthogonal chemistry. Listeners may want to go back and listen to a Long Run podcast I did with Bertozzi in April 2019.
Now before we get started, a word from the sponsor of The Long Run.
Calgary is home to more than 120 life sciences companies, from emerging startups to established firms. With this critical mass of research, technical talent and expertise, the city is an active hub for life sciences innovation.
Technologies homegrown in Calgary are changing the face of healthcare. Syantra is revolutionizing breast cancer detection using artificial intelligence-derived algorithms. NanoTess is harnessing the power of nanotechnology to tackle chronic wounds and skin conditions. And this is only the beginning. Calgary’s life sciences sector is projected to spend $428 million on digital transformation by 2024.
If you’re a bright mind or bright company solving global health challenges, Calgary is the place for you.
Take a closer look at why at calgarylifesciences.com
Now, please join me and Aetna Wun Trombley on The Long Run.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Luke Timmerman, founder & editor, Timmerman Report
I’m taking another biotech team to the highest peak in Africa.
Four years after the first team expedition, the Kilimanjaro Climb to Fight Cancer is back with a new crew of 28 biotech executives and investors. Together, we’re going to push ourselves physically, and raise more than $1 million for research at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center.
The expedition is set for Feb. 9-20, 2023.
Most people on the team don’t know each other, and don’t know what it’s like to hike in the thin air of 19,000 feet. A couple are veterans of previous expeditions. Everyone is training to get ready.
They love nature. They love science. They dislike cancer. They are making a big commitment to others in need, raising at least $50,000 apiece.
Here’s who is coming together for this challenging and memorable adventure:
The first Kilimanjaro trip in 2019 was a huge success, raising more than $1.5 million for cancer research at Fred Hutch. People on that trip formed lifelong friendships. They open doors for each other.
One of the people from that team summed up the experience:
“The proposition: join Luke and equal numbers of men & women in our industry to raise money for cancer research at the Fred Hutch and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. This was the experience of a lifetime. Breathtaking scenery – yes. Challenging physically – yes. Outstanding guides & support personnel – yes. Life-long bonding experiences – yes!” — Bill Newell, CEO, Sutro Biopharma
You can do a couple things to help.
First, go to the Kilimanjaro 2023 team fundraising page on FredHutch.org and find a member of the team you want to support. You can click on their name to open their personal fundraising page, and donate. That will help them hit their $50,000 goal. They’ll appreciate it!
Second, if your company is interested in raising awareness of your support for cancer research, ask us about team sponsorship opportunities. See me at luke@timmermanreport.com and Elizabeth ‘Za’ Martin at eamartin@fredhutch.org.
The biotech community has tremendous capacity for scientific genius and human generosity. When we exercise these muscles, we get stronger.
I’m eager to see what this next Kilimanjaro team, with your help, will do to propel science and improve the lives of cancer patients.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Samantha Truex.
Samantha is the CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based Upstream Bio.
Samantha Truex, CEO, Upstream Bio
Upstream came out of stealth mode with a $200 million Series A financing in June. It’s a big investment in an antibody aimed at the TSLP receptor. It’s a cytokine – an inflammatory protein – that sits at the top of what scientists call an inflammatory cascade.
The idea is that if you can inhibit TSLP, then it won’t trigger a whole bunch of other cytokines such as IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-17 and more. If you can keep the body from overproducing a wild storm of all those inflammatory proteins, then scientists think you might make a pretty big difference against a range of inflammatory diseases – including severe asthma.
Upstream isn’t the only company working on this target. AstraZeneca won FDA approval in December 2021 for an antibody aimed at the TSLP ligand. That drug, Tezepelumab, is cleared for severe asthma. Upstream seeks to build on that success. Upstream’s lead drug candidate was in-licensed from Astellas Pharma, has already been through extensive preclinical testing, and is being assessed in a Phase 1b trial in asthma patients that’s currently enrolling.
This is a big opportunity, from a commercial perspective and for patients. About 2 million people in the US have severe asthma, and about 30 million worldwide.
Samantha comes to this moment with a wide range of experiences, much of it in business development. She worked at a couple of the early pillars of the Boston biotech community, Genzyme and Biogen. She joined a startup, Padlock Therapeutics, that was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. Her first stint as a startup CEO didn’t end the way everyone hoped it would, but it was a learning experience that opened the door for what she’s doing now.
Now before we get started, a word from the sponsor of The Long Run.
Calgary is home to more than 120 life sciences companies, from emerging startups to established firms. With this critical mass of research, technical talent and expertise, the city is an active hub for life sciences innovation.
Technologies homegrown in Calgary are changing the face of healthcare. Syantra is revolutionizing breast cancer detection using artificial intelligence-derived algorithms. NanoTess is harnessing the power of nanotechnology to tackle chronic wounds and skin conditions. And this is only the beginning. Calgary’s life sciences sector is projected to spend $428 million on digital transformation by 2024.
If you’re a bright mind or bright company solving global health challenges, Calgary is the place for you.
Take a closer look at why at calgarylifesciences.com
Now, please join me and Samantha Truex on The Long Run.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Today’s guest on The Long Run is Tim Lu.
Tim is the co-founder and CEO of South San Francisco-based Senti Biosciences.
Tim Lu, co-founder and CEO, Senti Biosciences
Senti is working to develop gene circuits for cell therapies. This is about reprogramming cell therapies with precise genetic instructions on what to do in certain circumstances. The code essentially can tell the cell to kill tumor cells with a certain molecular marker on them, while sparing other cells that carry a particular molecular signature.
The first-generation cell therapies have delivered some extraordinary results for patients with cancer, but they also have some limitations. If Senti and others in the cell reprogramming world are successful, they could take cell therapies to a new level of safety and efficacy.
Tim and his colleagues have been working on gene circuits for a long time, dating back to his time on the faculty at MIT. He left that esteemed academic institution to go to work full-time on turning this research work into cell therapies that will someday hopefully help patients with cancer.
Senti’s work is still very early stage. It’s all preclinical. But it plans to seek clearance from the FDA to begin its first clinical trial, for patients with acute myeloid leukemia, in 2023.
Tim, like many biotech entrepreneurs, is the son of immigrants. His story starts there and takes a few interesting turns before getting to his current chapter, running a startup company. I think you’ll enjoy hearing about the person and the science.
Now before we get started, a word from the sponsor of The Long Run.
Calgary is home to more than 120 life sciences companies, from emerging startups to established firms. With this critical mass of research, technical talent and expertise, the city is an active hub for life sciences innovation.
Technologies homegrown in Calgary are changing the face of healthcare. Syantra is revolutionizing breast cancer detection using artificial intelligence-derived algorithms. NanoTess is harnessing the power of nanotechnology to tackle chronic wounds and skin conditions. And this is only the beginning. Calgary’s life sciences sector is projected to spend $428 million on digital transformation by 2024.
If you’re a bright mind or bright company solving global health challenges, Calgary is the place for you.
Take a closer look at why at calgarylifesciences.com
Now, please join me and Tim Lu on The Long Run.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
Please subscribe and tell your friends why it’s worthwhile. Quality journalism costs money. When you subscribe to Timmerman Report at $169 per year, you reward quality independent biotech reporting, and encourage more.
