Category Archives: Science & Medicine

“May you live in interesting times” – or so goes the phrase. In 1966, RFK Jr’s father famously used that quote to capture the turbulence of the times, and continued: “Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They

By Jonathan Montagu, CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC HotSpot’s trip to Barcelona for the recent European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting was no ‘European Vacation,’ but it was certainly

By Mike Cloonan, Chief Executive Officer of Sionna Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC The drug development process in rare diseases is rife with challenges especially when companies target significant differentiation or first-in-class targets. Identifying

By Ivana Magovčević-Liebisch, CEO of Vigil Neuroscience, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC In the last decade, our industry has made great strides in combating cancer by harnessing the body’s own immune system. As it was

By Jonathan Montagu, CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC As Boston’s weather has started its turn from the frigid darkness that is a northeast winter to the longer days and lighter conditions

By Haojing Rong and Aimee Raleigh, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC This blog post is the second in a series on key diligence concepts and questions. If you missed the intro blog post yesterday, click

By Aimee Raleigh, Principal at Atlas Venture, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Just in time for new years’ reflections and resolutions, this year’s JPM felt like a refreshing burst of enthusiasm for a sector that

By Jonathan Montagu, CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Signaling pathways are the intricate networks that govern cell behavior, lying at the crux of cell function. They are used by nature to

2023 couldn’t end fast enough for most of us in biopharma; its been a tough year in the capital markets, and the industry is facing it’s fair share of headwinds. Fortunately, despite all that, great science and medicine continues to

By Amanda J. Redig, SVP and Head of Clinical Development at HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC The American Cancer Society for Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting is among the highlights of the clinical oncology

By Jonathan Montagu, CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC The phrase ‘build it and they will come’ dates all the way back to the Old Testament, and in more recent times has

By Gerry Harriman and Jonathan Montagu, CSO and CEO, respectively, and co-founders of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. HotSpot Therapeutics today announced a strategic collaboration with Abbvie to develop IRF5 transcription factor inhibitors

By René Russo, CEO of Xilio Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC I had the opportunity to witness true courage as I met Chrissy Harding several times before she passed away from advanced lung cancer.

By Jonathan Montagu, CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, and Ramy Farid, CEO of Schrodinger, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. No, your next doctor will not be a robot. Nor will an algorithm cure cancer. However, AI

By Aoife Brennan, CEO of Synlogic, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. From the first time I heard the story of the American chestnut, I was fascinated. It is a story with threads from history, ecology,

By Jonathan Montagu, CEO and Co-founder of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Today marks an important point in our journey to patients as HotSpot Therapeutics announces its $100MM Series C financing.  This infusion

We just held our first-ever, and hopefully only, virtual Atlas Venture Annual Meeting for our investors. Although science is winning in this pandemic, we’re clearly not back to normal yet so felt it prudent to shift to a virtual format.

By Tim Reilly & Jonathan Montagu, CDO and CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Now 10 years into the golden era of immuno-oncology (I-O) following the first FDA approval of ipilimumab (anti-CTLA4)

By Nello Mainolfi, PhD, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Kymera Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. The inherent ability to combine the power of genetic-like knockdown with the flexibility of small molecules; the power to

Family Oddball, and a New Class of Safe Oral Autoimmune & Inflammatory Disease Treatment with Blockbuster Potential By Jeb Keiper, CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. On day one of the JPM

By Jeb Keiper, CEO of Nimbus Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. This blog is dedicated to the front-line healthcare workers, essential service workers, scientists, patients, and their families who confront COVID-19 every day, and

2020 was an incredibly paradoxical year for those of us in biotech: the striking dichotomy of simultaneously experiencing agonizing tragedy alongside buoyant optimism. It was truly a horrifically tragic year for humanity, and for America in particular.  As everyone knows,

By Ankit Mahadevia, CEO of Spero Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC Earlier this fall, we prepared to report Phase III data for tebipenem HBr, our oral medication that, if approved, could help 2.7M patients

By Philip Astley-Sparke, CEO of Replimune, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Manufacturing of medicines based on biology is complex. Viral vector manufacturing to produce gene therapy constructs, vaccines and oncolytic viruses is especially intricate. Most

It’s that time of year again when we pause to reflect on the state of the industry – and there’s more to focus on in biopharma today than just the drug pricing debate. As I described last year, we host

Today Alkermes announced its acquisition of Rodin Therapeutics, a leader in the field of synaptic dysfunction and neuronal epigenetics. Alkermes extensive experience in CNS diseases made them an ideal partner for Rodin, and this acquisition helps expand Alkermes’ efforts into

Neuroscience has had a tough run of news lately. With Amgen deprioritizing neuro this year, Pfizer doing the same last year, and others like BMS, GSK, and AZ cutting back on CNS a few years earlier, it would seem dark

This blog was written by Aoife Brennan, CEO of Synlogic Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. New therapeutic platforms, like those based on cell and gene therapy, provide potential to address diseases in new ways

This blog was written by Samantha Truex, Atlas EIR and CEO of Quench Bio, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Recently I read the article What’s Wrong With Me? that I saw re-posted on Twitter.  It’s

This post was written by Michael Gladstone, Principal at Atlas Venture, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Today I will continue my time-honored January tradition of an optimistic blog post providing some bold predictions for the

This blog was written by Adam Rosenberg, CEO of Rodin Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. After decades of challenges in neuroscience research and development, there is new hope that we can design better clinical

This blog is written by Tom Hughes, CEO of Navitor Pharma, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. We finally are beginning to understand the biological basis of aging and age-related diseases, making the discovery of new

Most conventional small molecule drugs engage directly with the engine of a protein’s function, aiming to often turning off an enzymatic activity associated with a disease. These drugs bind and compete against the natural substrate of the protein at what

This blog was written by Adam Rosenberg, CEO of Rodin Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Disappointing results in Alzheimer’s clinical trials seem to be announced on an almost monthly, and sometimes weekly basis: Merck’s

This blog was written by Mark Manfredi, CEO of Kyn Therapeutics and former Atlas Entrepreneur-in-Residence, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.  Last week we learned about the failure of the much anticipated ECHO-301/KEYNOTE-252 trial that studied

This blog was written by Jonathan Montagu, CEO of Hotspot Therapeutics and Atlas EIR, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. It starts off with flu-like symptoms and progresses to a perpetual low-grade fever, excessive sweating and

This blog was written by Michael Gladstone, Principal at Atlas Venture, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Biotech newsflow came out the gate a little slow in 2018 (though it appears it may be speeding up

This blog was written by Mike Gilman, CEO of Obsidian Therapeutics and Atlas Advisor, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC. Consider the leech – the first living medicine. In its heyday in the 19th century –

The field of gene and cell therapy has witnessed an unprecedented few months, almost unimaginable only a few years ago. It’s worth pausing to reflect on some of the recent highlights: FDA approval of two chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell

This blog was written by Jason Gardner, CEO and co-founder of Magenta Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.            There’s a proverb that goes like this, “If you want to go