The 15 most popular biotech companies in 2015

Release date: 2015-10-19

List of CEO avatars on the list of Fierce 15 biotechnology companies

As in previous years, the FierceBiotech website has published the "FierceBiotech's 2015 Fierce 15" list for 13 consecutive years on the eve of National Day.

Mr. John Carroll, editor-in-chief of FierceBiotech, believes that although we can't predict any new changes in the biosphere in 2016, looking back on the boom of biotech innovation and entrepreneurship in the past three years, we can be sure that life sciences have ushered in the best of times.

Venture capital has spawned a boom in biotech companies' IPOs, and mergers and acquisitions between large and small companies have made the field more and more lucrative.

After the products of biotech companies such as Juno, Spark Therapeutics, and Editas Medicine were compiled by Fierce Biotech, they were highly favored by venture capitalists in the capital market. With hundreds of millions of dollars and brilliant new technological achievements, which companies are listed this year, "15 of the most popular biotechnology companies"?

Before we publish the list, let's hang the appetite of the readers. Whether you are a venture capitalist, a large pharmaceutical company CEO, or an entrepreneur of a small and medium-sized enterprise, you need to look at what the hottest biotech companies on the list are doing this year. How to do it? Here are the reasons for you to see it.

Venture capitalist, Fierce 15 teaches you the trend of reading stories

What kind of venture capitalist is a good venture capitalist? It is obviously a story that others cannot understand. You can predict the future development trend 10 years or even 20 years ahead of time.

In the past 10 years, global biopharmaceutical companies (note: biopharmaceutical companies including traditional pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies and a hybrid of the two) have gathered in the Boston/Cambridge area in the United States. Corresponding to this trend is Boston. /Cambridge has been ranked as a champion industry group in biopharmaceutical/life sciences by several media or websites in recent years. Affected by Genentech and Amgen, many entrepreneurs and investors gathered in the Boston/Cambridge area to form a potential team to try to be the most dazzling star in biotechnology. So who will be the next gene Tektronix or Amgen? Fierce 15 takes you to the trend of life science stories in advance.

The pharmaceutical company CEO, Fierce 15 tells you the motivation of the core researchers

In recent years, “talent” has become the core competitiveness of the bio-pharmaceutical industry. Although the appeal for “talent” protection has been increasing (even some companies have signed talent alliance agreements to prevent brain drain), the soul of innovation and entrepreneurship still cannot stop research and development. The big people are "subverting" the pace of the industry.

First of all, when the R&D philosophy, values, and benefits of the old club are very different from those of R&D, the latter choose to start a new company and use their past experience, contacts, and technology to run their own biotechnology. Second, those Business development and capital operation experts have chosen to move from pharmaceutical companies to medical clinics that directly face customers. This is another reason for brain drain.

Third, the hot research field (tumor immunotherapy, gene editing, neurodegeneration...) is under the media's pursuit. Under the burning of capital, even the former failed drug (loser) may have new under the popularization of genomics technology. The indications are even expected to become heavy ammunition.

Therefore, even a team that has never researched a marketed drug may become a leader in a new wave of life sciences. Leave the company to start a business, the old tree opens a new flower, who is not heart-warming?

Entrepreneur, Fierce 15 lets you know what the most savvy biotech people in the US are doing?

When the hot air of innovation and entrepreneurship has blown from the British Empire to the Pacific Rim; when the venture capital of Silicon Valley has blown into the Yangtze River Delta beyond Wanli, when investors no longer care about the failure of entrepreneurs, they regard failure as a mirror. When an opportunity arises, the best era of "life science" is really coming.

Of the companies that launched Fierce 15 in 2014, 8 have submitted or completed IPOs, and at least two have had market cooperation due to cross-disciplinary areas, which was rare in the past.

In order to increase the likelihood of technical/drug success, new startups will no longer be isolated and willing to join hands.

As an entrepreneur, you must be aware of a rule: the bull market is full of capital and it doesn't matter; the capital in the bear market shrinks, and you lose money every day to get the health data will face the risk of closing down at any time.

Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you need constant innovation (institutions, policies, prices), and true innovation will compensate for the economic winter. The fact that local chef Martin Shkreli bought out a drug and increased the price by more than 50 times showed the greed of investors in the pharmaceutical industry. The more the technology (person) was touted, the greater the risk behind it. Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you still need reason.

Below is the biotech company on the "FierceBiotech's 2015 Fierce 15" list.

Alector

Founded in 2013, Alector has three souls in the biotechnology world - Genentech veteran Arnon Rosenthal as CEO, Asa Abeliovich, a neurodegenerative researcher at Columbia University as a science leader, and Tillman Gerngross, founder of Adimab as chairman .

The company is a drug research company mainly engaged in the field of neurodegeneration. It is a difficult task to develop Alzheimer's disease drugs. Many recent studies have focused on the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease in the accumulation of toxic proteins in the brain. But Alector in San Francisco is taking a completely different approach. Arnon Rosenthal believes that Alzheimer's disease is related to the immune system, and he hopes to build a natural defense system to protect the body from neurodegenerative diseases.

Recently, the company received $32 million in Series C financing from venture capital firms such as MRL, Google Topspin and Mission Bay Captial to support early research on neurodegenerative diseases to develop brain-destroying and neurodegenerative diseases. new method. Rosenthal said: In the next few years, Alector's research team will develop a leading treatment for the 12 confirmed neurodegenerative diseases. If the antibodies produced by the company can pass clinical trials, or will find effective treatments for global neurodegenerative diseases. .

Arvinas

Protein presentation is an easy-to-understand science. Arvinas, founded in 2013, is rapidly becoming known to the industry for its PROTAC technology, which is sourced from the laboratory of Professor Craig Crews at Yale University.

The company's unique proteolytic targeting chimera technology (PROTAC) can transform individual cells into drug units by activating the protein degradation pathway inside the cell to degrade certain non-"popular" proteins. This idea is expected to play a significant role in the development of future protein drugs.

In April of this year, Merck purchased the Arvinas PROTAC technology for a total of $434 million in payments including advance payments, research funding and corresponding milestones, or will be an important selling point in the future Merck's drug development system.

Cell Medica

The emergence of CAR-T technology has enabled genetically modified T cells to show clear targeting, strong killing activity against specific tumor cells and long-lasting anti-tumor effects, not only injecting new vitality into adoptive cellular immunotherapy. It also marks that tumor immunotherapy has truly entered the same stage as conventional tumor therapy such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and may complete surgery in some patients with advanced, recurrent, metastatic and refractory tumors. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy cannot be completed. A new era of curative treatment effects. In addition to CAR-T-based immunotherapy, TCR-T, NK, CAR-NK, TIL, γ/δ T cells and genetically modified mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are also included.

Cell Medica is a UK company headquartered in London with a focus on oncology immunotherapy and infectious diseases. The company owns virus-specific T cells (allogenes) against Epstein-Barr (EB) virus antigens for therapeutic advancement. Type NK/T cell lymphoma. US senior investor Neil Woodford has invested a total of $78 million in the development of T cell tumor therapies.

CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a joint venture between Emmanuelle Charpentier, a scientist at the Helmholtz Center for Infectious Research in Germany, and a $3 million Life Sciences Award with Jennifer Doudna. The current patent on CRISPR system technology is still in contact with two other companies. In dispute. The current CEO, Rodger Novak, who was a pharmaceutical executive, said: "Intellectual property is quite complex in this area, and everyone knows that it is full of contradictions."

The company was founded in 2014 in Basel, Switzerland's fourth largest city, to raise $25 million to develop the Cas9-based gene-cleavage technology CRISPR-Cas9, which can be used to treat genetic diseases. This year, CRISPR Therapeutics set up a grave in the United States' CRISPR Therapeutics, and is currently the second biotech company in the United States to focus on the "CRISPR" gene editing. Experts such as Nobel Laureate Craig Mello provided technical assistance to the company.

Denali Therapeutics

In May of this year, biopharmaceutical company Genentech's three former executives, with the help of $217 million in venture capital, set up a new company, Denali Therapeutics, to focus on the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Muscular atrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson's disease.

Denali Therapeutics is headquartered in San Francisco, and co-founder and chairman Marc Tessier-Lavigne is a well-known neuroscientist, president of Rockefeller University in New York; another co-founder, CEO of the company's day-to-day operations, Ryan Watts Is the director of neuroscience at Genentech; the third co-founder, Alex Schuth, is the head of technology innovation and diagnostics at Genentech.

Intellia Therapeutics

Intellia Therapeutics is a biotechnology company founded in 2014. It focuses on the development of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in the therapeutic field. It enjoys an exclusive intellectual property rights in the field of CRISPR/Cas9 technology and has won the first of Atlas Venture and Novartis. Round financing.

Dr. Nessan Bermingham, CEO and co-founder of the division, said that the cooperation between Intellia and Novartis will greatly promote the application of CRISPR/Cas9 into practical treatment. CAR-T and hematopoietic stem cell therapy are highly representative of CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Sexual application areas and opportunities, and Novartis is undoubtedly the leader in these two therapeutic areas, and cooperation with Novartis can accelerate the development of product development.

MyoKardia

In September 2012, a biotechnology company in San Francisco, MyoKardia, used a new genomic approach to develop drugs for the treatment of cardiomyopathy, looking for patients with such diseases due to genetic mutations, not only planning to screen for effective drugs for certain types of patients, but also It is planned to start the accompanying diagnostic test of related drugs.

After Boston’s venture fund, Third Rock Ventures, invested $38 million in the company, the company focused on the development of treatments for hypertrophic heart disease and expansion drugs, with a focus on developing a personalized small treatment for diseases caused by cardiac sarcomeric mutations. Molecular drug therapy, millions of people in the United States are suffering from these two diseases.

In September 2014, French biopharmaceutical giant Sanofi invested $200 million in milestones to pay for MyKardi's early research and development of new drugs for the treatment of heart disease, including two drug development projects on hypertrophic heart disease and an expansion heart. The disease drug research and development project, the two sides plan to complete the development of this agreement by 2018.

NGM Bio

Founded in 2008, NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held drug discovery and development company located in the south of San Francisco. It is dedicated to the identification and development of innovative biologics for diabetes, obesity, and muscle atrophy. And treatment of other heart diseases.

The exploration of the company's next generation of therapeutics may fundamentally change the treatment modalities of existing metabolic diseases. NGM has identified a series of new targets that have profound metabolic effects in various in vivo models of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and muscle wasting.

Padlock Therapeutics

Founded in January 2014, Padlock Therapeutics is a company specializing in the development of autoimmune diseases and is developing novel therapies targeting the protein arginine deiminase, a class of enzymes that mediate citrulline, PADs. Protein citrulline can lead to the production of strong autoantigens, participate in the earliest events leading to rheumatoid arthritis, and drive the formation of inflammation and immune complexes of active autoimmune diseases. The division may develop a therapy for PAD treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Revolution Medicines

Third Rock Ventures, a biotechnology venture capital firm, established a new company, Revolution Medicines, in 2015 and invested $45 million in the research. The Division is seeking further process and optimization techniques while using the first version of the new antifungal drug process.

According to Mark Goldsmith, CEO of the Division, antifungal treatment research provides an extraordinary synthetic process for complex molecules found in nature, allowing us to modify atoms and redesign these molecules for the treatment of serious diseases.

SQZ Biotech

By gently squeezing the cells, some macromolecules or nanomaterials can enter the cell, which in turn changes the function of the cell. If humans can let cells in the body work according to our requirements, such as letting them synthesize insulin in time, or attacking tumors, many health problems will be solved.

In 2013, chemical engineer Armon Sharei and two mentor, Klavs F. Jensen, one of the founders of microfluidics, and Robert S. Langer, a pioneer in the field of biology, developed a microchip based on silicon and glass. The channel for cell flow can be pre-etched, and as the cell flows, the channel gradually narrows until the cell cannot continue to move forward. At this time, the stuck cells are deformed by being squeezed, and small holes appear on the cell membrane. The diameter of these pores is sufficient for many mediators that can change the function of cells, such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbon nanotubes, and the like.

With the help of some legal advice and tutors, Armon Sharei and friend Agustin Lopez Marquez founded SQZ Biotech, which received a total of $550,000 in prize money and raised $1 million from investors. The operation generated considerable income and opened a path to new drugs.

Surface Oncology

Immuno-oncology (I/O) is changing the way we treat traditional cancers. In the treatment of immune tumors, checkpoint inhibitors have gained more and more attention. However, it is not enough to start T cells to attack cancer. This is why more and more companies and clinics use a combination of multiple therapies to attack cancer.

Surface Oncology was established in 2015, with a first round of financing of 35 million, and recruited AstraZeneca's director of oncology strategy Detlev Biniszkiewicz as CEO. The company now has a very clear and multi-pronged strategy. The development of next-generation tumor immunotherapy: efforts to improve antigen presentation and expression, block the inhibition of cells filling the tumor microenvironment, and prevent cytokines and metabolites to attenuate the immune system.

Syros Pharmaceuticals

Life sciences company Syros Pharmaceuticals Inc. was established in 2013 with a first round of financing of $30 million. At the end of 2014, the company completed $53 million in Series B financing. The company's investors include China's well-known CRO company. Ming Kangde. Dr. Nancy Simonian, the CEO of the division, was originally the chief medical officer of Millennium Corporation of the oncology company of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and the most promising product is a kinase called CDK7, which can lead DNA repair.

Dr. Simonian said that if everything is as planned, the company will launch a human clinical trial of CDK7 kinase next year; another targeted drug for cancer treatment is planned for IND (drug clinical trial application) in 2013. In addition, the division is also preparing to expand its R&D R&D pipeline, including immunological, super-enhancement agents for cellular inflammation, diseases targeting the genetic nervous system of the central nervous system and the kidney system.

Unum Therapeutics

Unum Therapeutic was founded in 2013. The company's patented T-cell receptor therapy (ACTR) has the advantage of being able to treat a variety of tumors through the selection of different antibodies; unlike Novartis and Juno. Another advantage of the pioneer of CAR-T therapy is that the antibodies used in the study have been fully studied, which will greatly accelerate the research progress of CAR-T therapy and help it to take a bigger advantage in the future market.

In October 2014, the well-known investment companies Fidelity Biosciences, Atlas Venture and other leading Sanofi investment company Jianzan Bio-Fund invested a total of 12 million US dollars to support Unum to develop CAR-T related therapies.

At the end of 2014, Unum announced the start of the recruitment of a clinical patient. The universal T-cell immunotherapy drug ATTCK20 will be used in combination with Rituxan for the treatment of chronic leukemia (CLL).

In June 2015, the company raised $65 million to develop the next generation of CAR-T treatment technology.

Yumanity Therapeutics

Yumanity was founded in 2014 by Tony Coles, former CEO of Onyx Pharmaceuticals (which was sold to pharmaceutical giant Anjin in 2013 for $10.4 billion) and Susan Lindquist, former head of the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Sciences affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. , located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, was founded around Susan Lindquist's many technologies. The company dared to develop new drugs for neurodegenerative diseases without any fund support. On the one hand, this market is too big, tempting. The strength is too strong, on the other hand, because Yumanity has its unique R&D technology platform.

Neurodegenerative diseases are now generally thought to be caused by some protein folding malformations in the brain. The error in protein folding not only causes the protein itself to lose its function, but more seriously leads to a devastating chain reaction, which causes brain cell disorders and death.

The Lindquist laboratory placed these folded malformed proteins into yeast cells, causing the death of yeast cells. Compounds that reduce yeast cell death may become lead compounds that inhibit protein folding malformations, thus forming a phenotype screening screening system for the discovery of such drugs. The lead compounds found are then placed into neurons from pluripotent stem cells, in vitro. These compounds were evaluated for their activity on neurons from patients with neurodegenerative diseases.

If these compounds behave in human neurons and then return to the yeast system to find a truly functional molecular target, repeated evaluation and screening will form a technical platform for screening drugs for neurodegenerative diseases.

To date, Lindquist Laboratories has screened more than 500,000 compounds using this technology and has discovered at least one molecular target and lead compound for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.

Lindquist has established a biotech company called FoldRx based on the phenotype screening system and sold it to Pfizer in 2010. Pfizer successfully developed Tafamidis using FoldRx technology, obtained the EU EMA in November 2011, and was approved by the Japanese Drug Administration in September 2013 (trade name: Vyndaqel) to treat a rare but fatal neurodegenerative disease. Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP).

Source: Bio-Exploration

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