Science, Finance, Biotech Chris Morrison Science, Finance, Biotech Chris Morrison

Raven-built Aliada shuttles its potential best-in-class Alzheimer's treatment to AbbVie

Today, AbbVie announced it is acquiring Aliada for $1.4 billion, motivated by the potential for ALIA-1758, Aliada’s lead program, to be the best-in-class for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, and by the potential of the BBB-crossing platform to enhance its discovery and development efforts for other difficult-to-treat neurological diseases. As we congratulate the Aliada team, we wanted to share a bit more of the story behind the second significant acquisition from our Raven incubator this year and the first full-circle acquisition of a company we built with technology spun out from a larger company.

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Science, Biotech, Culture Chris Morrison Science, Biotech, Culture Chris Morrison

How Jnana picked PKU

Starting with a blank slate is exciting – the ability to create a platform, a pipeline, a team from scratch is a big reason why one comes to biotech – but it requires a fearless and innovative team and bold investors and partners. The story of how PKU became the first killer app for Jnana’s SLC discovery platform -- a key pivot point in demonstrating the platform's value -- is emblematic of the calculated risk taking that we embrace in biotech.

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Planetary Health, Science Thomas Culman Planetary Health, Science Thomas Culman

Li-Ion's Share

Rechargeable batteries are ubiquitous and power our lives in myriad ways, but to “electrify everything” we will need dramatically more of them, and that in turn means we will need cheaper and more environmentally friendly ways of manufacturing them.

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Policy, Science, Planetary Health Thomas Culman Policy, Science, Planetary Health Thomas Culman

Now boarding: Net-zero aviation

Whether you enjoy air travel or not, it’s increasingly common and persistently bad for the environment. Almost three million passengers fly in and out of US airports each day and global demand for air travel is expected to double by 2050. In addition to emitting pollutants that lower air quality, aviation is recognized as a hard-to-decarbonize sector and accounts for ~3% of global CO2 emissions. Airlines have recently announced commitments to switch to "green" fuels, but as of today 95% of jet fuel is produced from fossil fuels. Why is that? 

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Finance, Science, Biotech Thomas Culman Finance, Science, Biotech Thomas Culman

RAVen’s Project Condor fights flu with Cidara deal

There is a real and urgent need for better flu prophylaxis and therapeutics. RA Managing Director Laura Tadvalkar writes about why RA is excited to lead a transformative transaction that returns a long-acting antiviral for flu to its original developer Cidara, and RA’s new initiative to help make outlicensing from pharma companies faster and more efficient.

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Science, Finance, Biotech Chris Morrison Science, Finance, Biotech Chris Morrison

Why we’re stuck on Hyku Biosciences

The technological renaissance in covalent inhibitor technology over the past decade is impressive. Relatively recent advances in structure-based drug design have unlocked the tantalizing opportunity to engineer covalency into small molecules. Now, RA Capital has incubated and seeded Hyku Biosciences to unlock histidines, tyrosines, and lysines for covalent modification to greatly expand the druggable proteome.

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Science, Biotech Thomas Culman Science, Biotech Thomas Culman

FutureCast | Back to the future: How old drugs are enabling new discoveries and a new era for treating depression

In today’s FutureCast discussion, RA Capital Principal Zach Scheiner, Senior Associate Becca Silberman, and Managing Partner Peter Kolchinsky talk about the past, present and future of depression therapies and why we’re confident that new uses and forms of old molecules, including psychedelics, will, in the next decade, bring relief to many of those among us who suffer from untreatable depression. Hop in the DeLorean with us at 88 miles per hour as we go 'Back to the Future'.

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Science Thomas Culman Science Thomas Culman

GoodRx collaborating with RA Capital on Survey to Better Understand Patient Assistance Programs

GoodRx, in collaboration with RA Capital, is surveying patients who have used or even just applied to a PAP. GoodRx is a free price comparison resource that helps Americans find the lowest prescription prices at their local pharmacies. We hope the results of this survey will shed light on PAPs’ role in the healthcare ecosystem as well as shed some light on their strengths and weaknesses.

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Science, Biotech Peter Kolchinsky Science, Biotech Peter Kolchinsky

Nektar’s IL-2 legacy: The two sides of failure

Though its program failed in clinical trials, Nektar kicked off an appreciation for what might be possible with a better IL-2. As other companies carry on with programs in part inspired by Nektar’s early data and vision, we explore failure in biotech, ignoring the naysayers, and the value of carrying on when the odds are slim.

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