Carma Therapeutics: A spinout from the labs of University of Pennsylvania researcher Carl June, focused on "CAR-macrophages," which might offer some advantages over CAR-T immunotherapies. "The idea is that macrophages have some properties that may allow them to penetrate and better propagate within solid tumors. So if you can provide specificity to them, you've got another potential promising avenue for cellular therapies to be applied to solid tumors. Obviously, it's very risky technology but with the potential to really make a significant difference," Brun said.
Disarm Therapeutics: Based on Washington University technology on novel pathways of axonal degeneration. Its programs investigate "whether it's possible to block certain programmed axonal death using certain small molecule approaches for use in neuroprotection in a range of degenerative diseases. These typically are companies that we're getting involved in very early and there may not even be candidate molecules yet, but the work will be at the target-validation stage," Brun said. [See Deal]
Artios Pharma Ltd.: UK biotech focused on DNA Damage Response. "There may be a number of other pathways in the so-called DNA Damage Response (DDR) area with regard to how do you repair cell damage and how can you leverage these new pathways and maybe do so-called synthetic lethal relationships. We've heard about PARP and BRCA, but one of Artios' leading targets is called polymerase theta, which could open up a whole new range of opportunities for new synthetic lethal relationships, the possibility of combating PARP resistance." [See Deal]

A Different Approach To Corporate Venture: An Interview With AbbVie Ventures' Scott Brun

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