Lundbeck LLC

Mr. Frohlich, formerly Chief Operating Officer of Chinook Therapeutics, brings 20+ years of leadership experience; Dr. Kocinsky offers deep expertise in developing therapies for autoimmune and kidney diseases Board of Directors, comprised of industry veterans in science, business, and strategy, will support the company's growth Expanded financing to accelerate clinical development of Jade's novel therapies targeting autoimmune diseases with significant unmet need VANCOUVER, BC and SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Jade Biosciences, Inc. ("Jade"), a biotechnology company dedicated to developing best-in-class therapies for patients living with autoimmune diseases, today announced the appointment of Tom Frohlich as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Hetal Kocinsky, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). The company also introduced its newly formed Board of Directors, marking a significant step in the company's growth trajectory. Jade has extended its financing, bringing the total raised to $95 million. The financing round adds Frazier Life Sciences and Versant Ventures to an investor syndicate that includes Fairmount, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Deep Track Capital, Driehaus Capital Management, Franklin Templeton, RTW Investments, and Braidwell LP. Strategic Appointments to Lead Jade's Next Growth Phase Tom Frohlich, Chief Executive Officer Mr. Frohlich, a biotech and pharma industry veteran, brings over 20 years of experience in company building, business strategy, and product development. Before joining Jade, he co-founded and served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Chinook Therapeutics, where he guided the company's growth through to its $3.2 billion acquisition by Novartis in 2023. He also held leadership roles at Arbutus Biopharma, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck, managing key areas such as commercial strategy and business development. "I am honored to join Jade Biosciences and lead this talented team through such an exciting time," said Frohlich. "With a strong balance sheet, world-class investors, and an experienced leadership team, we are well-positioned to advance therapies that will transform patient care in autoimmune diseases." Hetal Kocinsky, M.D., Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kocinsky brings deep expertise in drug development, having led clinical programs from early-stage research to regulatory approvals across multiple therapeutic areas. Most recently, she served as Vice President of Translational Medicine at Chinook and held leadership roles at Apellis and Achillion Pharmaceuticals. A board-certified pediatric nephrologist, she also spent time as an Assistant Professor at the Yale School of Medicine. "I look forward to working alongside the team at Jade in our quest to deliver breakthrough therapies to patients in need," said Dr. Kocinsky. "With my background in translational medicine and experience navigating complex clinical landscapes, I look forward to accelerating solutions that can redefine care for patients with autoimmune diseases." New Board of Directors Brings Industry Expertise and Strategic Insight Jade's newly formed Board of Directors is led by Board Chairman Eric Dobmeier, former President and CEO of Chinook Therapeutics, and brings together industry leaders with expertise across science, business operations, and corporate strategy. The board includes: Chris Cain, Ph.D. – Director of Research, Fairmount Funds Management LLC Eric Dobmeier – Board Chairman, Venture Partner, Samsara BioCapital Tom Frohlich – CEO, Jade Biosciences Tomas Kiselak – Managing Member, Fairmount Funds Management LLC Lawrence Klein, Ph.D. – CEO of Oruka Therapeutics Erin Lavelle – Former COO and CFO at Profound Bio, Eliem Therapeutics; additional leadership roles at Alder BioPharmaceuticals and Amgen About Jade Biosciences Jade Biosciences is developing transformative therapies with the goal of redefining the standard of care for autoimmune diseases. The company launched in July 2024 and has raised $95 million from a strong slate of investors: Fairmount, Venrock Healthcare Capital Partners, Deep Track Capital, Driehaus Capital Management, Franklin Templeton, RTW Investments, Braidwell LP, Frazier Life Sciences, and Versant Ventures. Jade's portfolio was engineered by Paragon Therapeutics. For more information, visit JadeBiosciences.com and follow us on LinkedIn. Media Contact [email protected] SOURCE Jade Biosciences WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM? 440k+ Newsrooms & Influencers 9k+ Digital Media Outlets 270k+ Journalists Opted In GET STARTED

Danish drugmaker Lundbeck will buy La Jolla, CA-based Longboard Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion in cash, the companies said Monday morning, marking the largest biopharma M&A deal since July . Neuroscience-focused Lundbeck will get access to a 5-HT2C superagonist that just entered Phase 3 last month for Dravet syndrome, a severe type of epilepsy found in infancy. The experimental medicine, known as bexicaserin, could also apply to other developmental and epileptic encephalopathies like Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and CDKL5 deficiency disorder, the company has said. Lundbeck projects a launch of bexicaserin in the last quarter of 2028 and global peak sales potential of up to $2 billion. The drugmaker also gets an S1P receptor modulator dubbed LP659 that is in Phase 1 and could be tested in multiple neurological diseases. Lundbeck CEO Charl van Zyl said Longboard will “become a cornerstone in Lundbeck’s neuro-rare franchise.” “Bexicaserin addresses a critical unmet need for patients suffering from rare and severe epilepsies, for which there are very few good treatment options available,” van Zyl said in a statement. Longboard spun out of Arena Pharmaceuticals with $56 million in October 2020. It went public five months later. Pfizer then bought Arena for $6.7 billion in December 2021. The deal comes amid a relatively dull past few months for public biopharma M&A, with many of the recent deals falling below $1.3 billion. There has been no deal of $5 billion or higher yet in 2024. Lundbeck itself has been relatively quiet on the acquisition front since its $1.95 billion Alder BioPharmaceuticals deal in September 2019. That led to a migraine drug approval a few months later for Vyepti . The Longboard deal is slated to close this quarter, and both boards have approved it, the companies said. Longboard will be bought for $60 per share $LBPH . Its share price skyrocketed 50% to $58 in premarket trading.

San Diego biotechnology company Autobahn Therapeutics on Wednesday said it raised $100 million to advance an experimental mood disorder medicine into mid-stage testing.The company, which launched in 2020, is developing the drug for major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder depression.Called ABX-002, the drug works in a somewhat similar fashion to Madrigal Pharmaceuticals' Rezdiffra, by stimulating thyroid hormone receptors. Psychiatrists have used synthetic thyroid hormone off-label for years to treat depression, but the drugs arent approved for that use and come with the risk of cardiac side effects.In ABX-002, Autobahn is developing what it describes as a Trojan horse that can cross the blood-brain barrier, said Kevin Finney, the companys CEO.The company is studying the drug as an adjunctive therapy, meaning itll be tested together with other antidepressants. Finney said it could boost the effects of existing drugs at lower doses, avoiding some of the side effects that come with upping the dosage of antidepressants when they don't work.Autobahn's depression drug could be “particularly helpful“ with people who have atypical depression, symptoms of which include oversleeping, lack of energy and weight gain, Finney said.As drugmakers race to develop new kinds of antidepressants, Finney sees Autobahns work as part of a shift in how mood disorders are treated.“Candidly, I hope all of them are approved because there are so many unique patient subtypes that you need to have multiple therapies, Finney said.The company was co-founded by Tom Scanlan, a researcher at Oregon Health & Science University, and Keith Lenden, a venture partner at Arch Venture Partners. (Though the biotech shares its name with Germanys highway system, the name actually refers to the fictional band in The Big Lebowski, a favorite movie of one of Autobahns founders.)Autobahn started out focusing on central nervous system disorders such as multiple sclerosis and adrenomyeloneuropathy. Since then, the company has leaned into neuropsychiatry drugs, though it is still developing a S1P modulator for neuroinflammatory conditions that it plans to push into clinical testing next year. Several S1P modulators are approved to treat multiple sclerosis.Autobahn raised $125 million prior to the Series C funding round announced Wednesday, which was led by Newpath Partners. New investors included Canaan Partners, Monograph Capital, and Insight Partners, while Autobahns prior investors, among them Arch Venture Partners, Biogen, Pfizer Ventures and Bristol Myers Squibb, also joined.Finney, a former executive at Abide Therapeutics, said the company could seek additional private financing, a pharma partnership or an initial public offering to advance its drugs into Phase 3 studies.Psychiatry drugs have drawn more investment from pharma recently, with big buyouts of schizophrenia drugmakers Karuna Therapeutics and Cerevel Therapeutics two notable examples. The influx has raised optimism that new kinds of treatments for diseases like schizophrenia, depression and bipolar depression may be within reach.With depression rates reaching historic highs in recent years, there is an urgent need for new and better medicines that alleviate suffering and address the global depression crisis, said Thomas Cahill, the founder of Newpath Partners, in a statement. We look forward to working alongside the Autobahn team to help bring forward much-needed, effective therapies for people living with depression and other CNS disorders. '