Yesterday, Archon Biosciences emerged from stealth and shared their revolutionary Antibody Cage ("AbC") technology for the first time. By merging AI, generative design, and cutting-edge protein engineering, George Ueda, James Lazarovits and the entire Archon team have created an entirely new class of biologic medicinces. This incredible set of innovations has the potential to fundamentally change antibody based therapeutics to bring novel and effective medicines to patients.
Today, though, I wanted to share some more color on why Madrona was so excited to help spin the company out of the Institute for Protein Design, University of Washington and why we continue to be blown away by the technology and progress. Besides the amazing underlying science, I knew that George and Jamie were a unique founding team well before they decided to start a company. In fact, I first met them at a dinner over a year before Archon came into existence. And as we discussed the idea of a company, both George and Jamie were adamant about two non-negotiable priorities: the science needed to be fully ready to go and the people around the table needed to be completely aligned on culture and vision. This thoughtful approach solidified my belief that this was a world-class and unique founding team and reminded me that great companies can take time to come to fruition!
After meeting at that initial dinner, Joseph Horsman and I spent over a year regularly touching base with George and Jamie to discuss the potential new company. From getting together in a cramped, hot, one and a half person office at the IPD, to long nights discussing team culture over beers at a subterranean dive bar off of the UW campus, George and Jamie methodically worked to build out the Archon vision. By the time the company was ready to spin out, everyone at Madrona was thrilled to support this incredible team and vision. We wrote more about this in the blog post linked below and stay tuned for more Archon content over the next week!
https://lnkd.in/gq3Pajwx
