cellular signaling proteins that regulate information flowing into and out of cells. The company believes that modulating these proteins could provide new treatments for pain, inflammation, and other conditions.
Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals — Bedford, MA
Fish oil is healthful, right? Resolvyx is developing compounds called resolvins, which occur naturally in some fish oils, to treat inflammation and other diseases. The company has chosen to enter its first resolvin compound into clinical trials for treating dry eye, in a rather large initial study I covered last month.
Lpath — San Diego
Lpath (OTC:[[ticker:LPTN]]) is developing monoclonal antibody drugs that target signaling lipids in order to cut off the blood supply to cancer cells and treat eye diseases. The firm says it has a partnership with Merck Serono for its lead antibody drug, which is in early clinical trials for treating cancer.
Virdante Pharmaceuticals — Cambridge
Virdante is operating quite quietly right now. But I was able to dig up some information on the company and its science in its Massachusetts Biotechnology Council profile. According to the profile, the startup is developing technology that boosts the ability of antibodies to treat inflammation.
I saw a bit of an inflammation theme among at least three of New Venture’s portfolio companies. And Dunn confirms that the Biogen VC group makes investments that complement Biogen’s existing franchise of treatments—which include such drugs for neurological disorder multiple sclerosis as interferon beta-1a (Avonex) and natalizumab (Tysabri), as well as cancer drug rituxumab (Rituxan) for patients with certain forms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—and the big biotech’s interests in rheumatology, cardiovascular conditions and, yes, inflammation. But he says that his investment team will also consider backing companies outside of these core areas if the firms fit Biogen’s long-term strategy.
On top of investing in companies, New Ventures has also done the groundwork that has led to Biogen acquisitions, Dunn says. The group’s efforts helped pave the way to Biogen’s 2006 buyout of San Diego-based Conforma Therapeutics, which brought the big biotech its pipeline of drugs that target cancer cell proteins that are key to tumor survival. In another deal involving New Ventures, Biogen last year acquired Waltham, MA-based Syntonix Pharmaceuticals and its technology designed to guard antibodies and deliver them into cells.
Another product of New Ventures is the Biogen Idec Innovation Incubator, a Cambridge operation that provides financing, lab space and other support to newly hatched biotech firms in return for pre-negotiated rights to acquire their drug candidates. Dunn says that the investments made in the incubator companies—which include startups Provasculon, a developer of modified proteins that recruit stem cells to damaged tissues for regeneration and vascular repair, and Escoublac, which is focused on therapeutic uses of a protein found in bones and other tissues that can regulate fat storage and other metabolic functions—came from a different pool of funds than those in New Venture’s regular portfolio. Yet the incubator does fall under the overall management of New Ventures.
Interestingly, Dunn says that there is another biotech startup operating at Biogen’s San Diego campus under similar terms as the two firms in the Cambridge incubator. But he’s keeping the details and name of that company under wraps, too.
