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CombinatoRx comes up with screening combination for drug discovery
By Dyke Hendrickson
The drug development process can be a lengthy one, but a Boston company has raised $57 million and acquired FDA approvals permitting patient trials - all in less than three years. CombinatoRx, a privately held Boston biopharmaceutical company, had raised $2.5 million in an angel round and $15.1 million in its first venture round. It recently closed on a second venture round of $40 million.
The company, founded in early 2000, plans to focus on molecules that have little or no effect of their own, but when combined become an effective new medicine. Using a method it calls Combination High Throughput Screening, company officials say they have generated a robust pipeline of novel product candidates useful for treating a broad range of human diseases.
With FDA approval, CombinatoRx soon will begin human testing in the field of oncology.
"We have brought an idea for a discovery platform forward in just three years," said Joanna Horobin, executive vice president and chief operating officer. "I think we've gotten funding for two reasons. We're screening for unusual combinations, which can result in breakthrough drugs. And we've delivered on our promises in terms of early testing. The FDA has approved our entry into clinical trials."
By rapidly screening all possible combinations of available compounds to discover novel and unexpected synergies, the company accelerates the identification of potential new therapies. Company officials say this method can replenish the pipelines of pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, the process screens known compounds with established efficacy and safety profiles, reducing the risk of failure that sometimes dogs the drug discovery and development process.
CombinatoRx officials say it is one of the first companies to screen combinations of compounds at high throughput. Carol Rozwell, a vice president and research director of analyst firm Gartner Group, said, "The company seems to be unique in the sense it works with multiple molecules to block pathways. "This is a promising field."
The most recent financing, led by Flagship Ventures, includes existing investors Canaan Partners, TL Ventures, BioVentures Investors and Foundation Medical Partners in addition to new investors Adams Street Partners, Novartis BioVentures Ltd., Global Life Science Ventures, POSCO BioVentures Limited, Private Life Biomed A.G., CDIB BioScience Ventures Inc. and China Development Industrial Bank.
The company, which employs 55, has put together a scientific advisory board that includes Joshua Lederberg, president emeritus of Rockefeller University; Todd Golub, director for Cancer Genomics, Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome Research; Brent Stockwell, a Whitehead Fellow; and Gary Borisy (father of CEO Alexis Borisy), president of the American Society of Cell Biology.
Lynn Sutherland, a consultant who follows this industry, said, "The drug development field is dynamic now. The venture capitalists have money, and they will invest in promising companies in this field."
CombinatoRx officials say they couldn't have formed this company five years ago.
"The informatics segment is enabling us to do this," Horobin said.
SOURCE: Mass High Tech, October 7, 2002
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