Bakar Labs

Kazuyoshi MIYAWAKI joins us from Sagamihara, a suburb of Greater Tokyo. He's at Bakar Labs for 5 weeks (returning for JPM!). Kaz is co-founder of Physiologas, a Kitasato University spinoff developing a home-use hemodialysis system. Kaz says "During my time at Berkeley, I’m aiming to connect with experts, investors, and the medtech community to sharpen our strategy for entering the U.S. market. I’m also looking forward to gaining insights into scaling a healthcare startup internationally, learning best practices from Silicon Valley’s innovation ecosystem, and refining our product’s approach with feedback from industry leaders." Physiologas eliminates the water supply challenge with unique dialysate recycling technology. Their technology makes dialysis at home easier and more accessible. This innovation is designed to relieve the physical and logistical burden of traditional dialysis, allowing patients more freedom and comfort in managing their treatment. If you see possibilities, connect with Kaz while he's here! Physiologas Technologies / フィジオロガス・テクノロジーズ Jeremy Alberga JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization Ensanté

Congratulations to Sophia Lugo, co-founder and CEO of Radar Therapeutics, on winning the Life Science Catalyst Award from Biocom California! ✨ This award celebrates the incredible contributions of young leaders under 40 who are shaping the future of our industry in California. Sophia is getting the spotlight for her incredible leadership, innovation, and dedication to diversity. Together with the Radar Therapeutics team, she’s set to revolutionize drug development and make a real impact! 🙌 https://lnkd.in/gskrjHef

Congratulations to Julian Rees and the entire team at HOPO Therapeutics for this incredible accomplishment! Why is BARDA investing $226 million in HOPO Therapeutics? 🤔 Because they’re on a mission to save millions of lives. Their groundbreaking pill tackles heavy metal poisoning and radiation risks from potential nuclear disasters. Plus, with lead poisoning killing 1.5 million people a year, HOPO's innovative solution is a game changer for global health.

Yo (Max) Amakusa, CEO of iBody Inc., is visiting us from Tokyo for 5 weeks. Starting from B cells, his patented "Ecobody" antibody discovery platform can obtain antibodies 150 times more efficiently than conventional technology. Here's what Max would like to accomplish during his time in the Bay Area: "I would like to connect to researchers in antibody discovery at pharma, biotech and diagnostic companies. Also researchers involved in antibody drug discovery, PK study of antibody drugs and IVD development." Reach out to Max if you'd like a conversation while he's at Bakar Labs! Jeremy Alberga JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization Ensanté

Cool intro to our Japanese guests today at a lunch and learn about their technologies-- including large-scale antibody search, stem cells, home kidney dialysis, synbio for pharma, and clinical stage mRNA therapeutics. Our visitors are here in the Bay Area to forge connections and partnerships with the industry and investing community in this center of biotech innovation and R&D. Welcome to Yo (Max) Amakusa of iBody Inc., Lucas Mixich of Fermelanta, Inc., Kazuyoshi MIYAWAKI of Physiologas Technologies / フィジオロガス・テクノロジーズ, Kazuhiro Takahashi of PURMX Therapeutics, and Kensuke Kato of SCAD. And thank you to JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization for organizing this residency and Ensanté for facilitating.

What a group to learn from: Catherine "Katy" Digovich, Sapna Puri, Matthias Hebrok, and the Minutia team. The company is developing cell therapy for diabetes, motivated by Katy's experience in Africa with the Clinton Global Health Initiative. Inspiring in so many ways.

🚀 Regulatory Milestone Achieved! 🚀 We’re excited to share that ResVita Bio had a productive FDA INTERACT meeting for RVB-003, our investigational therapy for Netherton Syndrome. The FDA's valuable feedback on biocontainment, CMC, and preclinical studies aligns with our innovative continuous protein therapy platform, bringing us closer to our Pre-IND submission in 2025. This milestone reinforces our commitment to transforming the treatment of skin diseases and improving patient outcomes with sustained therapeutic protein delivery directly to the skin. Thank you to our team, partners, and supporters for making this progress possible! 💫 #Biotech #SkinDisease #NethertonSyndrome #FDA #Regulatory #Innovation #ContinuousProteinTherapy

"Platforms are great, but all platforms at some point collapse to the value of the lead asset." That's just one of the pithy and colorful points we heard from our panel yesterday on how a platform company should choose its indication! Thanks to Danjuma Q., Uri Lopatin, MD, and Jennifer Leeds for a truly entertaining and informative session. Uri (source of that first point): "If you have a platform but no asset, and you're in an area that's currently hot, you are probably 10 years too late. You need a vision of where the company is going to be in 5-7 years and why it matters." "'Why is this [your asset] the best thing?' -- ask this question of your friends, never of VCs. The CEO is supposed to be the compelling storyteller, and your ability to do this is a measure of the strength of your team." "Understand who's paying for it: Who, how, how much. Most founders don't understand how money flows through the US system. Find someone in your network who can help you figure that out, and it'll put you in the top 10%." Danjuma: "[An industry science lead] will immediately ask: 'What is the indication? What is the mechanism, on and off the target? And what is the modality; is it the right one?'" Jenn: "The IRA has had tremendous impact on early-stage biopharma. You can't work on a small indication and pursue a big one later -- You need to go after a really big indication now, partner earlier, and you need very strong validation." Industry BD perspective: "Why is this hugely different from what we have in-house, or could license? It has to be in a place meaningful from the patient, and/or provider, and/or payer perspective." Different people at a big company have different motivations and pressures, and the CEO will be responding to what the board told them most recently. "It's a huge risk to go to the CEO. Go to the BD team. Early." Last word to Uri: "Keep in mind that everything we are telling you is wrong... If people told us seven years ago that the hottest drug would be an injectable for obesity, we'd probably have laughed, and been wrong."

Five Japanese startups learning how we do early-stage bio in the Bay Area: Jeremy Alberga welcomes our guests from our partnership with JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization here for the next month (and back for JPM in January).