With $71M in funding, Seattle biotech Vilya looks to get 'close to the clinic'

Seattle-based biotech Vilya Inc. is pushing ahead with drug discovery programs, drawing on artificial intelligence and modern computing techniques.

Vilya announced $71 million in funding on Tuesday, $50 million of which the company landed when it launched in 2022. CEO Cyrus Harmon says the money is an important stepping stone for the young biotech company.

"It's going to take us close to the clinic," Harmon said. "We didn't raise money to fund clinical trials yet. That will be down the road. But it allows us to get to the point where we will have candidate drug molecules that we can then go and raise money to fund."

Harmon added that the company has about 45 employees, including roughly 10 in the Seattle area. Most of the rest of the employees work in the Bay Area, where Vilya has labs in South San Francisco. In Seattle, the company in April moved its Eastlake office and lab space from Alexandria LaunchLabs across the street to 188 E. Blaine St. Vilya has about 6,000 square feet in its new building.

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Vilya is focused on macrocycles, ring-like molecules that can alter protein interactions and fight disease. According to the company, drug discovery has mostly relied on random screening and luck, which only unveils a fraction of the possibilities, but Vilya's approach is more precise.

Harmon said there are already hundreds of drugs based on macrocycles, but these molecules are often hard to work with. He added that, with AI and modern computing techniques, Vilya hopes to design the features it wants for its drugs, and the company plans to bring multiple programs to the clinic with this technology.

Vilya is still early on in its discovery process and hasn't named any specific targets yet. Harmon said about half of its work is focused on cancer, while the other half is focused on areas like immunology, metabolic disease and gastroenterology.

Harmon previously founded San Francisco-based Olema Oncology, which focuses on women's cancers.

Vilya was co-founded by David Baker, a University of Washington professor of biochemistry and head of UW's Institute for Protein Design.

"It is important to underscore our roots as coming out of the University of Washington and out of David Baker's lab. There's been a lot of companies that have come from David's lab that have done great things," Harmon said. "We're really excited to be the macrocycle company out of David's lab."

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