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Endeavor Launches With $62m And A Hedgehog Inhibitor From Lilly

Co-Founded By Former Impact Biomedicines CEO, Initial Focus Is IPF

 
• By Mandy Jackson

John Hood spent the past few years looking for a drug candidate worth forming a new company around before he zeroed in on Lilly’s taladegib as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. 

Neon Light Sign Lungs Icon
Endeavor's initial focus is IPF but it is looking at additional lung disease programs • Source: Shutterstock

John Hood and his team sold Impact Biomedicines, Inc. – the company he co-founded in 2017 to develop the JAK2 inhibitor Inrebic (fedratinib) for myelofibrosis – to Celgene Corporation for $1.1bn up front in early 2018 and then the former Impact CEO took a few weeks off before seeking out his next project. Now, more than two years later, Hood has officially launched his latest start-up, known as Endeavor BioMedicines.

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