PS212 Naming & Branding’s Post

Today is an exciting day for me and my co-founder Linhao Zhang, as we announce that TrialSpark has rebranded to Formation Bio. From the very beginning, we have envisioned building the pharma company of the future, one that marries the worlds of technology and pharma and built around velocity and first-principles thinking to ultimately transform how we bring new treatments to patients. We are progressing toward that goal, and have been operating as a clinical stage pharmaceutical company for some time with our own pipeline of drugs. Now, our brand reflects that identity. I am so proud of our teams, whose creativity, collaboration, and focus steer every innovation and milestone here at Formation Bio. While we know that fundamentally transforming how we bring new treatments to patients faster is no easy task and that we have a lot of work ahead of us, we know the impact this will make for our world will be profound. We are so grateful to all our partners, team members, mentors, advisors, and investors for their continued support and look forward to sharing the journey ahead to create this generation's tech-driven pharma company. Sequoia Capital, Michael Moritz, Thrive Capital, Spark Capital, S32, Rehan Verjee, Alex Gorsky, Paul Hudson, Casdin Capital, LLC Yosemite, Lachy Groom, Sanofi, Merck Group, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Joe Jimenez, Aditum Bio, Felicis, Mantis Venture Capital, Don DeGolyer, Emerson Collective, Wesley Chan, FPV Ventures, Pegah Ebrahimi, William R., Joshua Kushner, John Doerr, Kareem Zaki, Sound Ventures, Lee Cooper, Julie Grant, Doug Schantz, Dr. Matthias Müllenbeck, MBA, Ling Wong, ArrowMark Partners, Stefano Quintini, Mark Fishman, Jay Parikh, Michael Esquivel, and Sam Altman

TrialSpark is now officially Formation Bio! Read about the update here.

Congratulations to Rubedo Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on age-related diseases that secured $40 million in Series A funding yesterday. The round was led by investors Khosla Ventures and Ahren Innovation Capital, with participation from Hevolution, R42, Modi Ventures, Cerigo Investments, and others. “Rubedo is targeting senescent, or aging, cells that drive age-related diseases. This first trial can bring us another step closer to achieving better healthspan.” #RubedoLifeSciences #biotech #biotechfunding #clinicalresearch #clinicalresearchupdates

Quite a few have been saying this for quite some time. The opportunities are huge and the benefits for patients more so. What lies ahead is the ability for companies to bring these to market with the challenges they face. There belies the change required to look at this from a different model to what Pharma is used to. These are game changers, we need to change the game. 🚀 https://lnkd.in/grpiuZvS

𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗗𝗜𝗚𝗜𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗧𝗛 𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗢𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗫! 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗗: 📲In 2021, the top 25 biopharma companies, determined by their number of partnerships with Digital Health ventures, held 57% of all such global partnerships. However, in 2023, these leading companies’ share of partnerships has decreased to 45% 📲Partnership analysis reveals that the greater proportion of biopharma partnerships (55%) have been developed with ventures founded in the United Kingdom or the United States  📲30% of all partnerships between biopharma and Digital Health ventures are focused on ventures that offer solutions in Oncology. Women’s Health edges ahead of Neurology for the second-place spot for share of partnerships 📲Among the top 25 biopharmas most active in partnering, 33% of the Digital Health partnerships since 2020 have focused on the Research Solutions cluster 📲72% share of Digital Health ventures partnering with biopharma are using AI or GenAI (a subset of AI) technology. While AI is critical for understanding and learning from large data sets, GenAI systems can be implemented to help identify new drug targets and design new drugs, by simulating molecular interactions and predicting possible drug candidates 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗦: 📲AstraZeneca captures the top spot for Strategic Fit, with 36 Digital Health partnerships announced over the past 3 years and 28% of the new partnerships contributing to the drug development process 📲Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Pharmaceutical leads in Portfolio Strength, moving up from #2 in the 2022 rankings. Otsuka’s portfolio has the highest share of ventures using #ai and the highest share of ventures with evidence of clinical strength among the top 25 biopharma companies 𝗖𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗢𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗟 𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗙𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗢 𝗦𝗨𝗖𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗦: Bringing in digital experts with a better understanding of how to effectively leverage #technology in the context of biopharma. A strong digital team must be built to adapt to the evolving landscape of healthcare 📲With pipeline droughts and #patent cliffs looming, research productivity and innovation must be supplemented with the right Digital Health tools to help streamline #clinicaltrials, accelerate drug development, and improve patient outcomes 📲Drug reimbursement and #marketaccess strategies are becoming contingent on post-launch patient outcome data, which is primarily collected through #digitalhealth #innovation . For #biopharma companies, access to these technologies is essential for securing both market access and #reimbursement Source: Galen Growth | Insights You Can Trust

An excellent initiative that further aims at strengthening the innovative eco-system in the life sciences sector in Japan! This news got my attention - just spot on! We should be aiming to establish a joint venture-based model for supporting early stage drug discovery programs. Sharing a few lines from this article, related to defining the "business focus" that could help us all to building a path on these lines: ---------- .....The joint venture company will focus on the following three aspects: - Advancing innovative drug discovery programs primarily originating in Japan into the global pharmaceutical market. - Incubating globally competitive drug discovery technology and fostering entrepreneurship. - Unleashing the potential of drug discovery ecosystem in Japan through the creation of high caliber start-up companies. - In addition to establishing the joint venture company, Takeda and Astellas will provide support to the joint venture company leveraging their expertise gained from global drug discovery research and development, aiming to accelerate open innovation in early-stage drug discovery, and toward the creation of start-up companies for the benefit of society. - The joint venture company plans to begin incubation activities by collaboratively working with academia, pharmaceutical companies, and start-up companies across Japan to enable access to potentially transformative early drug discovery programs..... ---------- Enough food for thought for a city like "Hyderabad" which has a strong generic as well as service-based pharma sector. Building a path on this thinking might be highly useful in cementing a strong foundation, focusing on developing "our own science / technology-based, early drug discovery programs". Worth giving a serious thought to building this model!

Formation Bio, a New York City-based tech-driven and AI-native pharmaceutical company, has raised $372 million in a Series D funding round. The investment was led by a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), with participation from several notable investors, including Sanofi, Sequoia, Thrive, Emerson Collective, Lachy Groom, and new investors SV Angel Growth and FPV Ventures. This funding round also changes Formation Bio's Board of Directors, with Scott Kupor from a16z and Alfred Lin from Sequoia joining as new members. The company plans to utilize this substantial capital for two main purposes: acquiring and in-licensing candidate drugs and enhancing their AI capabilities. This significant investment underscores the growing importance of AI in pharmaceutical development and positions Formation Bio as a major player in the tech-driven pharmaceutical industry. https://lnkd.in/g2pH32fm

Takeda, Astellas Pharma, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation – SMBC Group announced a groundbreaking agreement on April 22, 2024. This agreement solidifies the formation of a new joint venture company aimed at nurturing early drug discovery programs from Japan to pioneer innovative therapies by mid-2024. Under the tripartite agreement, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Astellas Pharma Inc., and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation will jointly establish a new entity focused on fostering early drug discovery initiatives. The joint venture will initially receive approximately 600 million yen, equivalent to around $3.9 million, with Takeda and Astellas each holding 33.4% of its shares and Sumitomo owning the remaining 33.2%. Leading the helm will be pharmaceutical expert Toshio Fujimoto, the original CEO of iPark Institute, a Takeda subsidiary. The venture will be located at Shohan Health Innovation Park, overseeing about 150 firms, including drug startups. This collaborative effort aims to revitalize Japan's drug discovery landscape by leveraging its academic prowess and leading pharmaceutical expertise. Despite Japan's strong position in drug discovery, recent years have seen challenges in translating academic research into practical treatments, leading to a decline in clinical trials and new medicine introductions. Through this joint venture, Takeda, Astellas, and Sumitomo aim to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world therapies, streamlining the drug discovery process and facilitating the formation of startup companies. The joint venture will focus on three primary objectives: >> Advancing innovative drug discovery programs from Japan into the global pharmaceutical market. >> Incubating globally competitive drug discovery technology and fostering entrepreneurship. >> Establishing high-caliber startup companies to unleash the potential of Japan's drug discovery ecosystem. Full article: https://lnkd.in/eBPCE8tv

💡 Did you ever wonder which innovative startups are leading the charge in transforming Canada's Healthcare Industry, particularly in Quebec? Look no further! We've analyzed the game-changers in the pharmaceutical sector, and we're excited to share our findings with you. 👇 https://lnkd.in/e7B_sAMi 💊Featuring: Perceiv AI founded by Christian Dansereau, Ph.D., César Laurent Valence Labs founded by Daniel Cohen, Prudencio Tossou, Therence Bois Aplantex Medzy founded by Francis V., Sonia Boutin Jubilant Radiopharma Ditch Labs Airix founded by Sami Soltan Modelis founded by James Doyle Medfuture Sorintellis Opportune Therapeutics TALLC Corporation founded by Damon Smith CannaHive founded by Jonathane Seguin Organon Canada Kaster Technologies Inc. founded by Alexandre Clarizio, eng. Get the scoop on these startups, learn about their cutting-edge work in the pharmaceutical industry, and see how they're disrupting the status quo. #HealthcareIndustry #PharmaceuticalStartups #QuebecStartups #Innovation #DigitalHealth #HealthTech

AI is already starting to dictate drug development - favoring the tried and true over the innovative unknown. This scenario is becoming a reality in the pharmaceutical industry, as AI begins to play a pivotal role in predicting the success of drug trials. A recent article highlights AI's growing influence, but at what cost to medical breakthroughs? https://buff.ly/3NGIDmI IMPACT The reliance on AI for decision-making in drug development risks ushering in an era of 'safe bets'. Much like the film industry's penchant for sequels and franchises over original scripts, the pharmaceutical world may lean towards developing the '19th beta blocker' or the '12th edition of a Marvel movie'. This approach, while financially safe in the short term, could stifle the emergence of novel therapies that address unmet medical needs. LONG TERM IMPACT Moreover, this trend poses a long-term challenge. As reimbursement models evolve, they may begin to favor truly innovative treatments, leaving behind those that are merely incremental improvements. This shift could catch companies off guard, especially those that have played it safe, guided by AI's predictive analytics. In essence, we risk training our pharmaceutical research to 'study for the test' rather than to 'learn and innovate'. RECOMMENDATION The need for balance is clear: while AI can streamline initial drug trial processes, it should not be the sole arbiter of what gets developed. The pharmaceutical industry must nurture a culture of innovation that allows for both data-driven decisions and creative risks. Only then can we ensure that our medical future is not just a repetition of the past but a landscape rich with groundbreaking therapies. #AI #Pharma #DrugDevelopment #innovation