Endpoints News

Biotech startup Enveda has raised a $130 million Series C. https://lnkd.in/gd6kax3K

Tiny startup Nabla Bio posted a preprint Thursday highlighting its progress in creating antibodies from scratch that look therapeutically viable against some hard-to-drug targets in what it’s calling a first for the field. https://lnkd.in/gJSF_q7B

RFK Jr. and Elon Musk want to ban pharma ads. While ubiquitous, the ads are also controversial. https://lnkd.in/grYNcgyg

A female Rett syndrome patient died Wednesday after receiving Neurogene Inc.’s gene therapy in a clinical trial, the company disclosed in a new regulatory filing, after saying earlier this week that she was in critical condition. “The entire Neurogene team is sending our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones,” Neurogene said in a statement forwarded by a spokesperson. https://lnkd.in/g5JyjXwS

NEW: Protein-making AI models have fueled the launch of a $1 billion startup and a Nobel Prize win in 2024, but are they ready to actually make drugs? A tiny startup called Nabla Bio has made antibodies from scratch with AI that look therapeutically viable against some hard-to-drug targets in what it’s calling a first for the field. These antibodies showed strong binding affinities and, in general, looked and behaved more like drug candidates than previous de novo efforts. “My hat is off to them for choosing targets well and not settling for a bunch of academic papers that settle five-decade-old challenges,” biologist George Church said. My latest talking with Surge Biswas & Frances Anastassacos on the fast-moving de novo protein space for Endpoints News:

Enveda has put together a $130 million Series C as the plant-inspired biotech runs its first clinical trial in I&I. The machine learning-driven startup expects to get three to five drug candidates through clinical proof of concept with the new money, CEO Viswa Colluru, PhD told Endpoints News. The Colorado-based biotech will also bring an experimental, once-daily obesity drug (an oral hormone mimetic) into clinical testing around the middle of 2025, he said. Enveda has grown to 250 employees, with locations in Boulder and Hyderabad, India. #biotech #biotechstartup #biotechvc #plantchemistry #aibiotech #machinelearning #biotechfunding #coloradobiotech

Stanford physician-scientist Howard Chang will be Amgen's new chief scientific officer and senior vice president of research. https://lnkd.in/eutgv9aQ

Novartis is buying gene therapy and neuroscience biotech Kate Therapeutics in a deal worth $1.1 billion. https://lnkd.in/eddyv7TH

NewAmsterdam Pharma Corporation’s lead cardio program obicetrapib passed another Phase 3 trial, demonstrating its ability to lower “bad cholesterol” in combination with a drug called ezetimibe. https://lnkd.in/e5AxncsR

As we've been covering all year in, pharma's work using telehealth to more directly connect with patients is quickly becoming a key sales strategy rather than a side project. In today's Endpoints News Health Tech newsletter, Shelby Livingston has the authoritative piece on what that could mean for the industry at a time when there's more scrutiny than ever. Also inside: - I got the scoop on Synapticure Inc.'s $25M Series A (digital health meets neurodegenerative conditions) - Ngai Yeung has the scoop on Jimini Health raising $8M for its approach to AI-assisted therapy Check it out: https://lnkd.in/gkh6TAYQ