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DISCO Pharmaceuticals launches as the surfaceome company with EUR 20 Million in Seed Financing
- Transformative surfaceome discovery technology enables a comprehensive map of the cancer cell surface to identify a multitude of novel druggable targets.
- Pipeline programs in Small Cell Lung Cancer and Microsatellite-Stable Colorectal Cancer.
- Experienced team of individuals with expertise in surface proteomics and oncology from academia, biotech and pharma, led by CEO Roman Thomas.
- Leading biopharma executives Dieter Weinand (previously CEO at Bayer Pharmaceuticals) and Carsten Reinhardt (CDO at Immatics), join the DISCO Board of Directors as Chairman and Independent Director, respectively.
COLOGNE, Germany and ZURICH, Jan. 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — DISCO Pharmaceuticals (“DISCO”), a specialist biotech unlocking the surfaceome of cancer cells at scale to identify new targets and develop first in class drugs, emerges from stealth today. The Company, operating out of Cologne, Germany and Schlieren, Switzerland, successfully raised seed financing of EUR 20 million and is backed by a world leading investor syndicate, including Sofinnova Partners, which led the round, Panakes Partners, M Ventures and AbbVie Ventures.
The development of new treatment modalities in oncology is growing at an ever-increasing rate, but the lack of cancer-specific cell surface targets limits the application to a few clinically effective targets. The development of new biologics, such as antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and bi-specific antibodies, is on the rise; however, there are currently less than 30 molecular targets which form the basis of all antibody-based therapies. Therefore, there is a significant need to identify novel cancer-specific targets and target pairs.
DISCO’s pioneering surfaceome mapping platform transforms the current approach of target discovery for large molecule R&D. The technology identifies proteins and protein communities across the entire cancer cell surface in a scalable manner, thus addressing the need for target candidates for both mono- and bi-specific antibodies. These insights enable the development of a multitude of cancer-specific therapies, with the potential to boost efficacy and reduce side effects for patients. DISCO has started to create an internal pipeline of novel anti-cancer therapeutics leveraging this knowledge.
DISCO has completed the first-ever map of the surfaceome of a cancer type, Small Cell Lung Cancer, (SCLC) and is developing proprietary antibody-based treatments for SCLC, which has historically been difficult to treat. DISCO is currently working on Microsatellite-Stable Colorectal Cancer, which is associated with a high unmet medical need and for which only a few treatment options are available. The Company’s pipeline includes further undisclosed programs.
DISCO was spun out of ETH Zürich, with founders from ETH, the University of Cologne and Stanford University, and was founded in May 2022 by Prof. Roman Thomas, Dr. Johannes Heuckmann, Prof. Bernd Wollscheid and Prof. Julien Sage. The founders have a deep understanding of surface proteomics, cancer biology and drug discovery, and a track record of value creation. Dr. Stefan Ries, who has previously held leadership positions at Roche and was a venture partner at Versant Ventures, joins DISCO as Chief Scientific Officer. The DISCO team is complemented by a world leading group of scientific advisors.
In addition to the experienced Board of Directors from the investor syndicate, Dieter Weinand will join as Chairman of the Board. Dieter Weinand was previously the CEO of Bayer Pharmaceuticals and has held leadership positions at Pfizer, BMS and Sanofi. He currently serves on the Board of Coya Therapeutics (NASDAQ: COYA), as Chairman of the Boards of Replimune (NASDAQ: REPL), Umoja, and Inspirna, and as Executive Chairman of Mnemo Therapeutics. Furthermore, Carsten Reinhardt, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Development Officer at Immatics (NASDAQ: IMTX), joins the DISCO Board as an Independent Director. Previously, he was EVP and Chief Medical Officer at Micromet Inc, International Medical Leader at Hoffmann-La Roche, and has been serving as a director on supervisory boards to a variety of biopharma companies.
Roman Thomas, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, at DISCO Pharmaceuticals, said: “Today, we are launching DISCO Pharmaceuticals and its breakthrough technology after a decade of research by our exceptional team. We believe that our surfaceome discovery technology is truly disruptive and will transform oncology treatment options and ultimately improve outcomes for patients. The surfaceome mapping in Small Cell Lung Cancer – that we completed within months – has validated our technology platform and approach, demonstrating its potential, and we look forward to applying it to different indications.”
Maina Bhaman, Partner at Sofinnova Partners, added: “DISCO is uniquely positioned to transform cancer care. The team, which brings together individuals with diverse backgrounds from academia, biotech and pharma, combined with its unique surfaceome discovery technology, enables comprehensive target information which neither standard proteomics, nor genome or transcriptome sequencing can provide.”
Dieter Weinand, newly appointed Chairman of the DISCO Board of Directors, commented: “Expanding the possible target space in oncology has been a bottleneck in the industry for decades. I am thrilled to be working with the truly exceptional people at DISCO as I firmly believe that they will be able to overcome this hurdle by using their disruptive surfaceome discovery engine.
About DISCO Pharmaceuticals
DISCO Pharma, operating out of Cologne, Germany and Schlieren, Switzerland, employs a disruptive scalable technology to map the surfaceome of cancer cells and develop first-in-class cancer drugs. With the advent of new cell-surface, target-directed therapeutic modalities (including ADCs and bi-specific antibodies), it is critical to ramp up the discovery of meaningful targets. DISCO does so by comprehensively identifying druggable targets, as well as protein communities (i.e., different proteins that form nanoscale organizations on a cell), across the entire cancer cell surface at scale, thus uncovering crucial new information that neither genome nor transcriptome sequencing can provide. By knowing which proteins are truly present on the cell surface, and how they are associated within protein communities, DISCO can design highly specific binders, boosting expected efficacy and reducing side effects.
DISCO has a highly experienced team with a strong track record in cancer drug discovery and entrepreneurial value creation, as well as a deep understanding of surface proteomics born out of ETH in Zurich and developed further within the Company. DISCO is backed by world leading life sciences investors including Sofinnova Partners, Panakes Partners, M Ventures and AbbVie Ventures.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/disco-pharmaceuticals-launches-as-the-surfaceome-company-with-eur-20-million-in-seed-financing-302035546.html
SHIJIAZHUANG, China, Jan. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from Great Wall New Media — Steel is the primary pillar industry of Hebei Province. Relying on abundant resource endowments, a complete industrial chain, and modern technological advantages, Hebei’s steel industry has gradually formed an industrial cluster centered around Tangshan, Handan, Shijiazhuang, Chengde, and other key areas.
In recent years, Hebei has been actively promoting the steel industry’s transition towards intelligence, sustainability, and internationalization. Its products are widely exported to 20 countries and regions, becoming a crucial support for infrastructure construction in Belt and Road countries.
Today, let’s follow Xiao Wan from France to unlock the secrets of steel.
Video – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2593292/video.mp4
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/what-hebei-can-offerhebei-steel-forging-future-302345257.html
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JLL APAC Applauded by Frost & Sullivan for Enhancing Property Performance and Delivering Customer Value in Real Estate
JLL APAC’s deep industry expertise, state-of-the-art capabilities, and customer-driven approach position it to redefine the FM industry and reinforce its leadership.
SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Frost & Sullivan recently researched the facility management industry and, based on its analysis, recognizes Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Asia-Pacific (APAC) with the 2024 Asia-Pacific Company of the Year Award. The company is a global real estate leader that helps enterprises optimize real estate strategies to meet their operational needs and business goals. The company offers comprehensive solutions and services across the real estate spectrum, including integrated facility management (IFM). With its innovative, cutting-edge solution suite, JLL APAC enhances property performance, fosters ideal work experiences, and delivers value for clients spanning multiple industries, such as finance, government, information technology, and manufacturing. It integrates advanced technology, leverages scientific insights, and designs sustainable spaces to drive innovation and deliver significant customer value. The company goes beyond traditional FM practices, exploring neuroscientific principles to develop its innovative solutions.
JLL APAC’s Work Science initiative studies unique individual work patterns and diverse cognitive styles to power its human-centric workspace designs and create optimal work environments. It enhances workforce productivity, collaboration, and employee well-being and satisfaction. Aimed at helping C-suite executives and senior leaders tackle complex challenges and drive their organizations forward, the value-added JLL Future Labs service curates immersive, multi-sensory collaboration experiences that foster innovative thinking and synergy and accelerate decision-making. JLL APAC leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to unify operations among diverse facility management stakeholders and eliminate data silos, enhancing collaboration and decision-making toward optimized building performance. Its comprehensive AI-enhanced JLL Serve FM application streamlines operations, automates processes, digitizes maintenance and reporting, and provides real-time visibility to optimize building usage, minimize costs, save time, and boost returns.
Janice Wung, industry principal at Frost & Sullivan, observed, “JLL APAC’s bold approach to exploring innovative insights beyond traditional FM scope, such as neuroscientific principles, enhance its solutions and deliver impactful results. Its foresight in technology integration is a key differentiator, empowering the company to remain at the forefront of the industry and capitalize on emerging market opportunities.”
JLL APAC’s Smart Building Platform helps clients enhance operational performance with real-time and remote asset monitoring, enabling continuous oversight, rapid problem detection, predictive maintenance, and improved occupant comfort. The platform drives cost optimization, enhances operational efficiency, and promotes sustainability while ensuring occupant comfort and safety. JLL APAC’s expert integration of the Internet of Things, big data, and intelligent technology enhances service excellence, promoting sustainability and propelling the FM industry into the future. Furthermore, its world’s first large language model specifically for the commercial real estate industry, the JLL Generative Pre-trained Transformer (JLL GPT) AI platform, performs comprehensive multi-source data analytics to provide clients with intelligent insights that drive informed strategies and enhance returns. JLL APAC’s customer-centric and collaborative approach, deep expertise, and reliability in addressing client pain points resulted in an impressive global Net Promoter Score of 100%, establishing a new regional record. Regardless of macroeconomic and business conditions, its steady growth momentum positions it to thrive and continue expanding its market presence.
“JLL APAC prioritizes mutual interests to drive value creation and sustainable growth for all stakeholders involved, redefining business partnerships in the FM industry. By adopting progressive, customer-centric strategies and fostering enduring relationships through collaboration, value creation, and service excellence, JLL APAC is well-positioned to lead the FM industry into the future,” added Rubini Kamal, best practices research analyst at Frost & Sullivan. With its strong overall performance, JLL APAC earns Frost & Sullivan’s 2024 Asia Pacific Company of the Year Award in the facility management industry.
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents a Company of the Year award to the organization that demonstrates excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation in its field. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in various regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
About Frost & Sullivan
For six decades, Frost & Sullivan has been world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, megatrends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion. Contact us: Start the discussion.
Contact:
Tarini Singh
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About JLL APAC
For over 200 years, JLL (NYSE: JLL), a leading global commercial real estate and investment management company, has helped clients buy, build, occupy, manage and invest in a variety of commercial, industrial, hotel, residential and retail properties. A Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $20.8 billion and operations in over 80 countries around the world, our more than 110,000 employees bring the power of a global platform combined with local expertise. Driven by our purpose to shape the future of real estate for a better world, we help our clients, people and communities SEE A BRIGHTER WAYSM. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, please visit www.jll.com
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/jll-apac-applauded-by-frost–sullivan-for-enhancing-property-performance-and-delivering-customer-value-in-real-estate-302344657.html
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PostEra announces expansion to $610M in their AI drug discovery collaboration with Pfizer
BOSTON, Jan. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — PostEra, a biotechnology company specializing in machine learning for preclinical drug discovery, today announced an expansion of their partnership with Pfizer. The parties will launch a new Antibody-Drug-Conjugate (ADC) collaboration while also expanding their existing $260M AI Lab collaboration, which itself was built upon a successful Generative Chemistry partnership.
The teams will leverage PostEra’s AI platform, Proton, a pioneering innovation in generative chemistry and synthesis-aware design, to advance several programs. These new programs include small molecule therapeutics as well as ADCs, where PostEra will use Proton to optimize properties of payloads.
PostEra will receive an upfront payment of $12M and is eligible to receive additional milestone payments and tiered royalties on any approved products arising out of the collaboration.
Over the last 3 years, as part of the AI Lab, PostEra and Pfizer scientists have partnered closely to advance several small molecule programs. After Pfizer nominated the maximum number of programs, the teams have agreed to expand the collaboration to include additional targets with PostEra receiving additional upfront payment and eligibility for milestones and royalties.
“We’re pleased to significantly expand the use of PostEra’s Proton platform. This builds on peer-reviewed publications with Pfizer validating the real-world impact of AI-driven drug discovery in hitting preclinical milestones faster than anticipated,” said Alpha Lee, Chief Scientific Officer of PostEra. “This third partnership with our long-term collaborators at Pfizer underscores Proton’s depth and strength in making a meaningful impact on real-world drug discovery campaigns,” added Aaron Morris, CEO of PostEra.
About PostEra
PostEra is building a modern 21st century biopharma. We use Proton, our AI platform for medicinal chemistry, to accelerate the discovery of new medicines for patients. PostEra is advancing an internal pipeline while also advancing small molecule programs through partnerships with biopharma. We’ve closed over $1Bn in AI partnerships including 4 multi-year agreements with Pfizer and Amgen. PostEra is also leading an antiviral drug discovery center for pandemic preparedness, funded by one of the largest grants in NIH history.
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View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/postera-announces-expansion-to-610m-in-their-ai-drug-discovery-collaboration-with-pfizer-302342058.html
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