Meet the 2021 Fierce 15

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Cellarity

CEO: Fabrice Chouraqui
Founded: 2019
Based: Cambridge, MA
Clinical focus: Cellarity is combining a discovery platform, machine learning and “network biology” to understand how cells behave when they’re healthy, and more importantly, how this changes when they’re diseased.

 

Delix Therapeutics

CEO: Mark Rus
Founded: 2019
Based: Cambridge, MA
Clinical focus: Delix is currently running its two lead programs through investigational new drug-enabling studies to bring them into the clinic next year. It plans to test them in undisclosed neuropsychiatric indications.

 

Erasca

CEO: Jonathan Lim, M.D.
Founded: 2018
Based: San Diego, CA
Clinical focus: Attacking the RAS/MAPK pathway on multiple fronts to not just treat but cure cancer.

 

Mestag Therapeutics

CEO: Susan Hill, Ph.D.
Scientific co-founders: Michael Brenner, M.D., David Tuveson, M.D., Ph.D., Dr. Chris Buckley, MBBS, Soumya Raychaudhuri, M.D., Ph.D., Mark Coles, Ph.D.
Founded: 2020
Based: Cambridge, U.K.
Clinical focus: Targeting fibroblasts to treat cancer and inflammatory disease

 

Moma Therapeutics

CEO: Asit Parikh
Based: Brighton, MA
Founded: 2020
Clinical focus: Precision oncology, synthetic lethality and cancer dependency

 

Repertoire Immune Medicines

CEO: John Cox
Founded: 2020 (as the combined company)
Based: Cambridge, MA
Clinical focus: The biotech is focused on a series of diseases, including different types of cancers and infections as well as address the underlying causes for a number of autoimmune disorders.

 

Ribon Therapeutics

CEO: Victoria Richon, Ph.D.
Founded: 2015
Based: Cambridge, MA
Clinical focus: Finding stress pathways that affect solid tumors, inflammatory diseases.

 

Ring Therapeutics

CEO: Tuyen Ong, M.D.
Founded: 2017
Based: Cambridge, MA
Clinical focus: While clinical testing is still on the horizon, Ring is exploring a variety of potential areas to go after, including vaccines, ophthalmology and cardiology, given what it calls “an embarrassment of riches” that comes with the potential of anelloviruses.

 

Senda Biosciences 

CEO: Guillaume Pfefer, Ph.D.Chairman, co-founder: Ignacio Martinez 
Founded: 2018
Based: Cambridge, MA
Clinical focus: Developing new mRNA therapies, genetic medicines and “protein-in-a-pill" treatments that can be delivered orally thanks to “intersystems biology.” 

 

Stablix Therapeutics

CEO: Carlo Rizzuto, Ph.D.
Founded: April 2021
Based: New York, NY
Clinical focus: Stablix is working on building up a chemical library of small molecules that can recruit different deubiquitinase enzymes and developing in-vivo proof of concepts with molecules that come out of its platform over the next 18 months.

 

Tectonic Therapeutic

CEO:  Alise Reicin, M.D.
Founded: 2019
Based: Boston, MA
Clinical focus: Running a drug discovery platform dubbed GEODe to find previously unexplored G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and get into the clinic within 24 months.

 

Tenaya Therapeutics

CEO: Faraz Ali, MBA
Founded: 2016
Based: South San Francisco, CA
Clinical focus: The Californian biotech is attacking heart disease from three different angles: gene therapy, cellular regeneration and precision medicine. It’s taking this multi-pronged approach to solve various problems that lead to heart disease and heart failure.

 

Tvardi Therapeutics

CEO: Imran Alibhai, Ph.D.
Founded: 2018
Based: Houston, TX
Clinical focus: Coming up with better ways to treat solid tumors, fibrosis, inflammation.

 

Tyra Biosciences

CEO: Todd Harris
Based: Carlsbad, CA
Founded: 2018
Clinical focus: Overcoming acquired drug resistance

 

Valo Health

CEO: David Berry
Based: Boston, MA
Founded: 2019
Clinical focus: Cutting drug development times and going after targets that are hard to drug.