Bits In Bio Weekly - December 17th 2024
Updates From and Around the Bits in Bio Community
📢 Highlights
Relation Therapeutics Lands Largest Seed-Stage Biotech Deal with $ 300M from GSK Collaboration
Owkin Combines Privacy and Precision Medicine with Open-Source Federated RNA-Seq Platform
AbbVie Strengthens Autoimmune Portfolio with $200M Nimble Therapeutics Acquisition
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Relation Therapeutics and It's AI-Driven Platform Secures $300M Deal with GSK
GSK has entered into a collaboration with Relation Therapeutics worth up to $300 million per target, a London-based biotech firm specializing in AI-driven target identification and validation. The partnership focuses on leveraging the firm’s proprietary computational and "lab-in-the-loop” platform to develop new treatments for osteoarthritis and fibrotic disease using primary tissue samples and highly multidimensional sets of data. GSK will develop and commercialize any resulting drugs, with Relation in line for tiered royalties and revenue share for any candidates that are delivered to the market, making the total value of the partnership incalculably larger in its potential. With an upfront payment of $100 million and additional milestone commitments of $200 million, this collaboration reflects GSK aggressive investment in marquee bio AI companies such as Relation, preceded by Ochre bio earlier this year, to enhance its pipeline competitiveness. The collaboration builds on GSK’s broader digital transformation strategy, which aims to position it as a key player in integrating AI across well both known and emerging innovative drug discovery workflows. Founded in 2019, London-based Relation Therapeutics has become a jewel of the UK startup scene, with this being the largest deal ever for what is a seed-stage biotech company, according to the marquee SF venture firm backer DCVC. Relation has complemented its commercial momentum with a robust innovation and research culture, highlighted by their recent co-authorship of a single-cell technology review article published in Cell, one of the world's 3 most prestigious scientific journals.
Privacy-Preserving Federated Platform for RNA-Seq Research Released by Owkin
Owkin has introduced an open-source federated learning tool that enables secure, decentralized RNA-Seq analysis, allowing multiple institutions to collaboratively gain insights into gene expression data without sharing sensitive patient information. This privacy-first approach is especially critical in the era of precision medicine, where genetic and transcriptomic data hold the key to unlocking novel diagnostics and therapies for cancer, rare diseases, and other complex conditions. By keeping data locally and training models collaboratively, researchers preserve compliance with stringent privacy regulations while still benefiting from the diverse, high-quality datasets scattered across different institutions.The study’s results, published in biorxiv, indicate that federated models trained on RNA-Seq data from multiple centers can achieve comparable or superior accuracy and robustness to traditional centralized approaches. Crucially, these improvements in model performance come without requiring direct data pooling, thereby mitigating risks associated with patient re-identification and data breaches. It's code is available on github.
Behind the Deal: Nimble Therapeutics Aquired by Abbvie for $200M Boosting Post-Humira Pipeline with Peptide Innovation
AbbVie’s $200 million acquisition of Nimble Therapeutics highlights its strategic intent to expand in the autoimmune market with innovative oral peptide therapies. The deal, which includes interim payments and potential milestones, shows AbbVie’s confidence in Nimble’s IL23R inhibitor for psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease and its proprietary peptide synthesis platform. This move seeks to expand AbbVie’s market share with convenient oral therapies. Nimble’s IL23R inhibitor addresses growing patient demand for alternatives to injectables, complementing AbbVie’s biologics portfolio, including Humira and Skyrizi. With Humira facing biosimilar competition, this acquisition strengthens AbbVie's post-Humira strategy by introducing differentiated candidates and securing future revenue streams. Crucially, Nimble's advanced peptide synthesis platform, originating from Roche, accelerates the discovery and development of oral peptides across multiple autoimmune indications. This technology, focused on enhancing the stability and bioavailability of macrocyclic peptides, provides AbbVie with a competitive edge in a rapidly growing market. By streamlining R&D and accelerating time-to-market, this acquisition positions AbbVie to remain at the forefront of autoimmune treatment.
Restructured BenevolentAI Sharpens Focus on AI-driven Therapeutics
BenevolentAI, a pioneer in AI-driven drug discovery, has announced a major strategic overhaul to refocus on its original mission of developing transformative medicines through AI. Following a challenging period, the company will divest non-core assets and streamline its operations. Its proprietary AI platform has identified 15 drug candidates, including a Phase 2 candidate for atopic dermatitis in collaboration with AstraZeneca. The strategic pivot, driven by Executive Chairman and Founder Kenneth Mulvany, includes enhanced automation of its end-to-end discovery process, emphasizing the discovery of targets for complex diseases, and partnership for its promising therapeutics earlier in their development life cycle.
DASA Launches Grant to Spur Innovation in Pathogen Source Tracking
The UK Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has unveiled a £1.5 million initiative to increase microbial forensics innovation. The program seeks cutting-edge solutions to identify microbial signatures, trace pathogen sources, and bolster public health defenses. Focus areas include genomic sequencing, machine learning integration, and real-time pathogen attribution tools to mitigate threats like bioterrorism and pandemics. Successful proposals will undergo funding rounds, emphasizing practical applications for global public health. This initiative reflects the UK’s growing commitment to innovation in biosecurity as part of its broader strategy to address emerging biological risks.
Cradle Wins Adaptyv Protein Design Competition, Showcasing AI Potency
With an impressive 8x relative increase in EGFR binding affinity, Cradle Bio has emerged as the winner of the Adaptyv Protein Design Competition, cementing its position as a leader in AI-driven protein engineering. The competition challenged participants to leverage generative AI and high-accuracy biophysical modeling to tackle critical challenges in protein design, including therapeutic targets and industrial applications. Cradle Bio's platform demonstrated exceptional capabilities, rapidly generating protein designs with superior stability and functionality compared to conventional methods. The win, preceded by their recent $73M series B, highlights the potential of Cradle's AI approach in unlocking new possibilities for diagnostics, enzyme development, and precision therapeutics.
Tasca Secures $52M to Target Lipid-Bound Protein Pockets in Cancer
Boston-based Tasca Therapeutics has raised $52 million to advance its pipeline targeting novel lipid-bound protein pockets implicated in cancer and metabolic diseases. Founded in 2022, the promising startup will use its new funding to accelerate development of its lead compound, CP-383, a small molecule that selectively modulates a lipid-protein interface involved in cell signaling pathways. This innovative approach could offer safer, more precise therapies by avoiding off-target effects seen with conventional modalities. Backed by prominent investors, Tasca plans to initiate Phase 1 trials by mid-2025, marking a significant milestone in translating the emerging therapeutic area of lipid biology into actionable drug candidates.
AI-Derived Concept for Precision Cancer Vaccines by Evaxion Therapeutics Unveiled
Evaxion Biotech has unveiled a pioneering AI-based precision cancer vaccine platform, aimed at transforming the oncology treatment landscape. By leveraging its proprietary AI technologies, including PIONEER™, the company identifies patient-specific neoantigens—unique protein fragments arising from cancer mutations—to develop highly personalized cancer vaccines. These vaccines are designed to enhance immune system targeting of tumors while minimizing off-target effects, an area where traditional immunotherapies have struggled. In preclinical models, Evaxion's approach demonstrated significant improvements in both immune response strength and tumor reduction. The company plans to expand its platform’s capabilities to tackle a broad range of solid tumors, with clinical trials anticipated in the near future. The global precision oncology market is conservatively projected to grow at a CAGR of 9.5%, reaching $140 billion by 2030, placing Evaxion in a strong position to capitalize on this expanding sector.
nChroma Bio Formed from Chroma Medicine and Nvelop Therapeutics Merger
Chroma Medicine and Nvelop Therapeutics have merged to form nChroma Bio, launching with $75 million in funding to accelerate genetic medicine innovation. The fresh cash infusion will provide the company with additional capital to drive the lead program to meaningful clinical data and to build a robust pipeline of next generation hepatic and extrahepatic targeted therapiesThe new entity focuses on precision epigenome editing to regulate gene expression, addressing a broad range of genetic and epigenetic disorders. Backed by Foresite Capital and ARCH Venture Partners, nChroma Bio plans to advance its lead programs into clinical trials by 2026. The merger combines both companies' proprietary platforms and expertise, positioning nChroma as a leader in next-generation genetic therapies.
🗓️ Upcoming BiB Events
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Toronto Biotech Happy Hour – Wednesday, December 18th
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Biotech IP and AI Workshop – Tuesday, December 17th
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📰 Top Community Conversations
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Computational Scientist at Phare Bio
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Lead, Physical Sciences Automation at Lila Sciences
Senior Laboratory Software Engineer at SAGA Diagnostics
Various Roles at stealth start-up
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