Defeating cancer with
radiopharmaceutical medicines
Validated solid tumor targets
Macrocyclic peptide-mimetics
Actinium-225 (alpha isotope)
KANAGAWA, JAPAN – PeptiDream Inc., a public Kanagawa-based biopharmaceutical company (“PeptiDream”)(Tokyo:4587) today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with San Diego, California, US – based RayzeBio Inc., (“RayzeBio”) for the discovery and development of peptide-radioisotope (RI) conjugates for use as therapeutics (“Peptide Radiotherapeutics”).
RayzeBio is a dynamic work environment that looks for passionate truth-seeking
individuals who want to make a material impact in improving outcomes for people
with cancer. We value our employees and strive for a collegial, inclusive and honest
team culture. We offer full benefits as well as stock options to all employees.
RayzeBio, Inc.
9880 Campus Point Dr
Suite 410
San Diego, CA 92121
info@rayzebio.com
@ 2020 All rights reserved, Insight
President and CEO
Ken is President and CEO at RayzeBio. Ken’s experience spans clinical medicine, basic science research, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Prior to RayzeBio, he was President and CEO of Metacrine, Inc. where he led the organization from research to mid-stage clinical development of a best-in-class drug for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and also positioned the company for IPO. From 2010 to 2016, Ken was the co-founder and CEO of Ariosa Diagnostics (acquired by Roche) where he led the organization from early research to eventual global commercialization of the Harmony Prenatal Test in over 100 countries. Ken also serves as Executive Chairman of Omniome, a company developing a disruptive sequencing technology.
Prior to being an operator and entrepreneur, Ken worked as a venture capitalist at Venrock as well as consultant at McKinsey & Company. Ken trained in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and specialized in gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Washington along with a scientific research fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He earned his B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.D. from UCSF.
Senior Vice President, Development & Operations
Head of Discovery
Derek has over 20 years of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery experience. Prior to joining RayzeBio, he was Senior Director, Medicinal Chemistry for the GI-Drug Discovery Unit at Takeda, where he led a team of over 30 small molecule, peptide, oligonucleotide chemists and in vitro pharmacology, delivering both small molecule and peptide development candidates.
Prior to Takeda, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer, contributing to target validation, hit-to-lead and drug discovery in Neuroscience and Immunology.
Derek earned his Ph.D. in Synthetic Chemistry at the University of Alberta, Canada. He is an inventor on multiple patents and has published and presented broadly on small molecule lead optimization and fragment based drug discovery. He co-organized the Fragment-based Lead Discovery conference in San Diego in 2018.
Gary has over 15 years of drug discovery and translational research experience at both strategic and operational levels. Before joining RayzeBio, he was SVP, Translational Medicine at QED Therapeutics, leading all aspects of translational research and companion diagnostics. Prior to QED, he was VP of Translational Research at Ignyta, where he built a highly productive research team from ground up and led multiple programs to NDA and IND milestones. Before Ignyta, he held various scientific positions with increasing responsibilities at Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, contributing to target ID/validation, drug discovery and multiple drug approvals.
Gary earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is an inventor of multiple patents, and has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and delivered over 70 invited talks and meeting presentations.
VP, Finance
Kathie has 20 years of accounting and finance experience. Prior to joining RayzeBio, she served as VP of Finance at Metacrine, where she led the buildout of the accounting and finance infrastructure and was involved in the preparation efforts of its initial public offering. Prior to Metacrine, she served as VP of Finance at Biotix where she led all aspects of accounting and finance operations and was involved in the business development efforts resulting in its acquisition by Mettler Toledo. Prior to Biotix, she served in various accounting positions with increasing responsibilities at Zogenix, Metabasis and Discovery Partners International.
Kathie is a certified public accountant (inactive) and holds a B.S. in Business Administration (Finance) from San Diego State University.
SVP, Chemistry Innovation
Nicholas Smith has more than 20 years of drug discovery experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently at Metacrine Inc., he was a Senior Vice-President of Chemistry and oversaw the chemistry, DMPK and Intellectual Property groups.
Prior to Metacrine, he was at Seragon Pharmaceuticals and Aragon Pharmaceuticals, where he was Vice President of Chemistry and oversaw medicinal chemistry projects, including the development of two estrogen receptor degrader clinical candidates, and a next-generation androgen receptor antagonist program. In addition, Dr. Smith was responsible for the Aragon and then Seragon intellectual property portfolios and aspects of clinical manufacturing.
Prior to Aragon, he was Head of Chemistry at Kalypsys Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Kalypsys, Dr. Smith was a Research Fellow at Merck & Co., where he led chemistry groups that contributed to clinical candidates in the areas of obesity and inflammation.
Board Member
Jerel is a Managing Director at Versant Venture Management, LLC, a healthcare investment firm. He has played a critical role in Versant’s company creation strategies and has been heavily involved in a number of public and private biotech companies such as Quanticel (sale), Crispr (CRSP), Inception 4 (sale), Inception 5 (sale), Northern (sale), BlueRock (sale), Repare (RPTX), Akero (AKRO), Chinook, Turnstone, Ventus, and Tentarix. Jerel was promoted to Managing Director at Versant in 2016.
Prior to joining Versant, Jerel was an Associate Principal at McKinsey and Company where he advised healthcare corporations in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical device and molecular diagnostics. He has worked in a number of healthcare markets globally including the U.S., Europe, China, and Russia. Jerel earned his doctorate from Stanford University, where he also completed his post-doctoral research.
Board Member
Aaron is a co-founder of RayzeBio and currently serves as a Venture Partner in the Medicxi investment team. Prior to joining Medicxi, Aaron was a partner with Apple Tree Partners (ATP), where he was a key member of the life science investment team since 2011. While at ATP, he played a leading role in assembling several ATP portfolio companies, previously serving on the boards of Akero Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AKRO), Corvidia Therapeutics (acquired by Novo Nordisk), Elstar Therapeutics, Limelight Bio, and Syntimmune acquired by Alexion). During his time at ATP, Aaron was also a board observer at Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ: STOK) and led many of ATP’s crossover and public biotech investments. Aaron is also a founding board member of Silagene. Prior to joining ATP, Aaron held roles in private equity and investment banking. Aaron received a BS in Finance and International Business from NYU Stern’s School of Business.
Bong originally joined Venrock in 2009 and has been doing public and private investing since 2004. He did his medical training at Harvard’s Mass Eye & Ear Infirmary (ophthalmology), Stanford Hospital (internal medicine) and UCSF (pathology).
Bong works predominantly on Venrock’s public and cross-over biotech fund, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners.
Bong earned his B.A. from Yale University, his M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Yi Larson currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer of LianBio, a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing paradigm-shifting medicines to patients in China and major Asian markets.
Previously, she was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Turning Point Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage precision oncology company. In this role, she oversaw all aspects of the finance and accounting organization, led corporate strategy and business development, helped raise over $1 billion through 3 follow-on offerings, and spearheaded deal-making activities, including the out-licensing of Turning Point’s lead drug candidates for the Chinese market. During her tenure, Yi helped grow Turning Point from $1 billion to $5 billion+ in market cap.
Prior to Turning Point Therapeutics, Ms. Larson was a Managing Director of Healthcare Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs where she worked for over 12 years. She advised senior management teams and boards on a range of strategic and financial matters, successfully executing over 50 deals, including $70 billion in M&A activities and $30 billion in financings.
She has also served as a member of the board of directors of Olema Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, since April 2021. Ms. Larson earned an MBA, concentrated in Finance, from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She also earned a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Board Member
Aaron Royston, M.D., M.B.A. is a Managing Partner at venBio with a background in life science investing, healthcare strategy, and as an entrepreneur. Dr. Royston led venBio’s investments into Akero Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AKRO), Harmony Biosciences (Nasdaq: HRMY), Apellis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: APLS), and Menlo Therapeutics (Nasdaq: MNLO), and currently serves as a director on the boards of multiple private companies. Prior to joining venBio, Dr. Royston was a member of the investment team at Vivo Capital, a life science venture capital firm. Previously, he worked at Bain & Company, where he advised biotechnology companies on a range of strategic and operational issues. Earlier in his career, Dr. Royston coordinated clinical research at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where his research has been published and presented in multiple medical journals and conferences. Dr. Royston received his B.S. in biological sciences from Duke University, and his M.D. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Borad Member
Ken is President and CEO at RayzeBio. Ken’s experience spans clinical medicine, basic science research, venture capital, and entrepreneurship. Prior to RayzeBio, he was President and CEO of Metacrine, Inc. where he led the organization from research to mid-stage clinical development of a best-in-class drug for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and also positioned the company for IPO. From 2010 to 2016, Ken was the co-founder and CEO of Ariosa Diagnostics (acquired by Roche) where he led the organization from early research to eventual global commercialization of the Harmony Prenatal Test in over 100 countries. Ken also serves as Executive Chairman of Omniome, a company developing a disruptive sequencing technology.
Prior to being an operator and entrepreneur, Ken worked as a venture capitalist at Venrock as well as consultant at McKinsey & Company. Ken trained in internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and specialized in gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Washington along with a scientific research fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. He earned his B.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.D. from UCSF.
Board Member
Mike is a Partner at Samsara BioCapital, where he invests across all stages of the life science sector from seed stage to public equities. He currently serves on the board of a number of Samsara portfolio companies, including: Enara Bio, IONpath, Levo Therapeutics, Nkarta Therapeutics and Sutro (STRO).
Prior to Samsara, Mike was a Partner at New Leaf Venture Partners. Mike has served on the boards of Versartis (VSAR), Dimension Therapeutics (DMTX), Advanced Cell Diagnostics (acquired by Bio-Techne) and Principia. Before joining New Leaf, Mike was a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group, where he was a core member of their health care practice.
Mike received an A.B. in biochemical sciences from Harvard and a PhD in molecular biology from UC Berkeley, where he was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship. His research was published in peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, and Neuron.
Nimble Therapeutics and RayzeBio today announced the companies have entered a strategic collaboration to discover and develop novel peptide-based radiopharmaceuticals for treatment of cancer.
“We are excited to welcome RayzeBio to our growing family of partners” said Jigar Patel, Ph.D., CEO of Nimble Therapeutics. “Through our pioneering work, we have built a platform to rapidly identify drug like hits and optimize them into leads, and conduct elaborate medicinal chemistry campaigns to engineer candidates with optimal potency, selectivity, stability, and other important attributes. This agreement with RayzeBio underscores the value inherent in Nimble’s platform to advancing the radiopharmaceutical field,”
“Nimble’s platform technology is promising,” said Ken Song, M.D., CEO of RayzeBio. “Nimble’s rational approach to using its platform to identify novel peptide-like molecules allows us to further expand our radiopharmaceutical pipeline and pursue multiple therapeutic programs in parallel.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Nimble will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, research reimbursements and may also receive further milestone payments and royalties on sales of resulting products. RayzeBio has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize peptides discovered under the collaboration, and an option to further expand the collaboration to include additional targets.
About Nimble Therapeutics
Nimble Therapeutics is a biotechnology company revolutionizing the discovery & development of peptide therapeutics. The company’s discovery platform integrates leading-edge peptide synthesis, bioinformatic and chemoinformatic tools, a variety of naïve and scaffolded chemical libraries, custom screening and validation assays, and accelerated medicinal chemistry. The company has established partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and seeks to leverage its technology across many therapeutic areas. For more information, please visit www.nimbletherapeutics.com.
About RayzeBio
RayzeBio is a biotechnology company focused on improving outcomes for people with cancer by harnessing the power of targeted radioisotopes. With a focus on clinically validated solid tumor targets, RayzeBio is developing novel peptide mimetic binders to deliver potent therapeutic radioisotopes such as Actinium-225, an alpha-emitter. The company is backed by a syndicate of sophisticated healthcare investors and was established in 2020. For additional information, please visit www.rayzebio.com
Media Contact
Nimble Therapeutics, Inc. RayzeBio, Inc.
Brad Garcia, Ph.D. Ken Song, M.D.
Vice President, Corporate Development President and CEO
info@nimbletherapeutics.com info@rayzebio.com
–Total raise of $258 million since company launch in August 2020–
RayzeBio, Inc., which is discovering and developing a broad pipeline of innovative targeted radiopharmaceutical drugs for cancer, today announced a $108 million Series C financing led by Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners alongside new investors Perceptive Advisors, Vivo Capital, Acuta Capital Partners, Deerfield Management, and TCG X. Also participating were all of Rayze’s existing investors: venBio Partners, Versant Ventures, Samsara BioCapital, Redmile Group, Viking Global Investors, Cormorant Asset Management, OrbiMed, LifeSci Venture Partners, Logos Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and others.
“The targeted radiopharmaceuticals field represents a highly clinically validated modality that, until recently, has been underappreciated,” said Ken Song, M.D., president and CEO of RayzeBio. “The interest and confidence from our exceptional group of investors that has funded the company enables us to fully invest in our plans to be the leader in targeted radiopharmaceuticals for a multitude of cancer types.”
With over $258 million of capital raised since the company first debuted in the second half of 2020, RayzeBio has rapidly expanded its team, infrastructure, capabilities, and pipeline.
About RayzeBio
RayzeBio is a biotechnology company focused on improving outcomes for people with cancer by harnessing the power of targeted radioisotopes. With a focus on clinically validated solid tumor targets, RayzeBio is developing novel drug binders to deliver potent therapeutic radioisotopes such as Actinium-225, an alpha-emitter. The company is backed by a syndicate of sophisticated healthcare investors and was established in 2020. For additional information, please visit www.rayzebio.com
Contact:
Ken Song, M.D.
info@rayzebio.com
(858) 257-3449
RayzeBio, Inc., a targeted radiopharmaceutical company developing an innovative pipeline against validated solid tumor targets, appointed Yi Larson to its board of directors effective April 1, 2021. Ms. Larson has a highly accomplished biotechnology career having been a Managing Director of Healthcare Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs where she worked for over 12 years, followed by Chief Financial Officer at Turning Point Therapeutics, and currently serving as Chief Financial Officer at LianBio.
“RayzeBio is clearly establishing itself as the leader in the exciting field of radiopharmaceuticals,” said Ms. Larson. “The company has impressively built an infrastructure to drive innovation in the sector. The company’s strategy and aggressive execution have attracted financial backing from a broad base of top tier healthcare investors.”
“In my first meeting with Yi, I was immediately impressed by her intelligence and knew that I had to find a way to work with her,” said Ken Song, M.D., President and CEO of RayzeBio. “In addition to her financial expertise in the life sciences sector, she has corporate and business development strategic insight and has such a great personality that you want to spend time with her.”
RayzeBio also announces the expansion of its team with the following key employee hires:
“I am thoroughly impressed by Derek, Kathie, and Dan as they each bring deep expertise and passion for what they do,” said Dr. Song. “Derek and Dan have been working with RayzeBio since earlier this year and have contributed to tangible progress in our discovery and development efforts. Kathie is someone I have worked with before and so already know of her talents and ability to lead and execute.”
About RayzeBio
RayzeBio is a biotechnology company focused on improving outcomes for people with cancer by harnessing the power of targeted radioisotopes. With a focus on clinically validated solid tumor targets, RayzeBio is developing novel drug conjugates to deliver potent therapeutic radioisotopes such as Actinium-225, an alpha-emitter. The company is backed by a syndicate of sophisticated healthcare investors and was established in 2020. For additional information, please visit www.rayzebio.com
Contact: info@rayzebio.com, (858) 257-3449
PeptiDream Inc., a public Kanagawa-based biopharmaceutical company (“PeptiDream”)(Tokyo:4587) today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with San Diego, California, US – based RayzeBio Inc., (“RayzeBio”) for the discovery and development of peptide-radioisotope (RI) conjugates for use as therapeutics (“Peptide Radiotherapeutics”).
Under the agreement, the two companies will work on a number of programs against targets mutually agreed to, with PeptiDream providing peptide candidates, identified and optimized using its proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS) technology, to RayzeBio for further development as radiotherapeutics, with RayzeBio holding exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to the program peptides for use with radioisotopes. PeptiDream will lead preclinical discovery and optimization efforts, with RayzeBio leading translational biology efforts to further characterize peptide-RI conjugates and advance such conjugates into clinical development and commercialization activities.
Under the terms of the agreement, PeptiDream will receive an equity interest in RayzeBio, as well as be eligible for certain payments associated with product development and commercial success, as well as royalties on future sales of any products that arise from the partnership.
This strategic partnership with RayzeBio, in addition to existing partnerships with Nihon Medi Physics (2018) and Novartis (2019), solidifies PeptiDream’s position as a leader in the Peptide Radiotherapeutics field.
“We are truly excited to announce this new strategic partnership with RayzeBio for the discovery and development of novel and innovative Peptide Radiotherapeutics. With RayzeBio leading translational biology, development and commercialization and PeptiDream focused on the preclinical discovery and optimization, we think this partnership with RayzeBio can further enable (or accelerate) PeptiDream’s goal of bringing several first-in-class and best-in-class radiotherapeutics to patients worldwide.” said Patrick C. Reid PhD, President & CEO of PeptiDream.
About PeptiDream
PeptiDream Inc. is a public (Tokyo Stock Exchange 1st Section 4587) biopharmaceutical company founded in 2006 employing our proprietary Peptide Discovery Platform System (PDPS), a state-of-the-art highly versatile discovery platform which enables the production of highly diverse (trillions) non-standard peptide libraries with high efficiency, for the identification of highly potent and selective hit candidates, which then can be developed into peptide-based or small molecule-based therapeutics. PeptiDream aspires to be a world leader in drug discovery and development to address unmet medical needs and improve the quality of life of patients worldwide. For further information, please visit www.peptidream.com.
Enquiries:
PeptiDream Inc.
Mie Yamazaki IR & Public Affairs – (Kanagawa)
EMAIL: m-yamazaki@peptidream.com