Gary Glick hasn’t stayed in one scientific venture for long. As a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan, he would change directions every three or four years. As chief executive of IFM Therapeutics until late last year, he's spun out three different companies in three years.
But his new company, Scorpion Therapeutics, has him settling down.
“It will be the last company that I start, and I'll stay with Scorpion, ideally, through a commercial launch,” Glick said.
Scorpion launched Monday with $108 million to develop what it hopes will be the next generation of precision medicines: treatments that target specific, individualized genetic targets linked to a patient’s ailment. The company is currently leasing lab space in the Seaport for its 30 employees, but plans to double its headcount in the next year and move into a permanent headquarters in Boston.
Glick got involved in Scorpion earlier this year when he connected with Keith Flaherty, the director of clinical research at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and cofounder of Loxo Oncology. They approached several of IFM Therapeutics’ financiers, including Atlas Venture, Omega Funds and Abingworth LLP., which all participated in Scorpion’s Series A round.
The idea behind Scorpion is to take the best of what exists at big pharma firms and integrate it into a nimble biotech, as Chief Business Officer Lina Gugucheva put it. Rather than honing in on one single drug technology or platform, the company plans to dabble in several types of drugs, depending on the need.
“If, for example, the target needs a (protein) degrader, then we can apply a degrader approach. If the target needs an inhibitor, we can apply an inhibitor approach. If the target requires covalent drug, we can apply a covalent approach,” Glick told the Business Journal. “Many of these technologies started to be developed five, seven years ago, and they have reached a level of maturity so that one doesn't have to invest large amounts of time and money to recreate the wheel… Our team has experience with all of these technologies.”
That team includes alums from Novartis AG (NYSE: NVE), AbbVie Inc. (Nasdaq: ABBV) and Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN).
The company’s founders — Flaherty, Broad Institute Cancer Genome Computational Analysis Group Director Gaddy Getz, and Harvard Medical School professor Liron Bar-Peled — helped define the precision medicine field, Glick added.
Scorpion’s executives have six or seven drug candidates in mind, but declined to disclose the disease targets or molecular targets they address. Many of IFM Therapeutics’ spinouts have nabbed substantial development deals with Novartis, but Scorpion plans to develop its drugs solo and maintain full commercial rights.
Here's how some of biotech's biggest Series A round stack up
Series A round: $50 million
Year: 2017
Pictured: CEO Joanne Kotz
Series A amount: $50 million
Year: 2018
Pictured: Akouos' new headquarters in Boston. The company is moving into 37,500-square-feet at 645 Summer St.
Series A amount: $51.5 million
Year: 2016
Pictured: Morphic's website
Series A amount: $52 million
Year: 2015
Pictured: Steve Holtzman, CEO of Decibel Therapeutics
Series A amount: $55 million
Year: 2017
Pictured: Tango Therapeutics' website
Series A amount: $55 million
Year: 2015
Pictured: Neon Therapeutics CEO Hugh O’Dowd
Series A amount: $55 million
Year: 2017
Pictured: LifeMine's website
Series A amount: $55 million
Year: 2016
Pictured: Goldfinch's website
Series A amount: $56 million
Year: 2018
Pictured: Cedilla's website
Series A amount: $57 million
Year: 2016
Pictured: CEO Sanjiv Patel
Series A amount: $57 million
Year: 2016
Pictured: Oncorus CEO Ted Ashburn
Series A amount: $58 million
Year: 2018
Pictured: Pandion Therapeutics' Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Jo Viney
Series A amount: $58.5 million
Year: 2018
Pictured: Casma Therapeutics CEO Keith Dionne
Series A amount: $59 million
Pictured: Entrada Therapeutics CEO Dipal Doshi
Series A amount: $60 million
Year: 2019
Pictured: Polaris Partners' headquarters in Boston. The venture capital firm launched Dewpoint in January 2019.
Series A amount: $60 million
Year: 2018
Pictured: Rheos CEO Sanjay Keswani
Series A amount: $60 million
Year: 2017
Pictured: Partners' website. The company is developing new cancer treatments after acquiring one drug from Sanofi.
Series A amount: $60 million
Year: 2017
Pictured: An image of neurons. Fulcrum is probing disease biology and gene regulation.
Series A amount $65 million
Year: 2018
Pictured: Celsius' website
Series A amount: $87 million
Year: 2018
Pictured: Broad Institute scientist and Beam Therapeutics co-founder Feng Zhang
Series A amount: $132 million
Pictured: Compass Therapeutics CEO Tom Schuetz
Series A amount: $150 million
Pictured: CEO Owen Hughes, at left, and Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Patrick Baeuerle
