Welcome to Partnology’s Biotech Leader Spotlight Series, where we highlight the remarkable accomplishments and visionary leadership of biotech industry pioneers. This series is about showcasing the groundbreaking strides made by exceptional leaders who have transformed scientific possibilities into tangible realities. Through insightful interviews, we invite you to join us in following the inspiring journeys of these executives who continue to shape the landscape of the biotech industry. This week we are recognizing Dr. Arthur Suckow.
Dr. Arthur Suckow was the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer & Board Member at DTx Pharma up until their acquisition by Novartis in 2023. He has also previously worked for Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, and Regulus Therapeutics. He currently serves as an advisor for Palm Therapeutics, Actio Biosciences, Sinopia Therapeutics and Transcera. Dr. Suckow’s extensive experience in fatty acid pharmacology includes advancing small molecules targeting fatty acids and fatty-acid conjugated peptides into early clinical development. Dr. Suckow has received numerous awards including a Beckman Fellowship, NSF graduate research fellowship, a BIOCOM catalyst award, a CMTRF trailblazer award and many others. Dr. Suckow received his BS from the University of Delaware and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences from the University of California, San Diego.
Walk me through your career, noting some of the most pivotal moments or decisions throughout:
I completed my undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of Delaware and earned my PhD in Pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego. My research primarily focused on diabetes, with a slight emphasis on neuroscience, which served as a pivotal foundation for my career. My PhD work on diabetes and metabolism led to my first industry role at Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in San Diego, where I worked extensively on small molecules and biologics for diabetes. My projects included studying how fatty acids interact with cell receptors, which offered insights into various potential therapeutic applications.
When J&J closed their San Diego site, I had the option to relocate to Spring House, Pennsylvania, but instead chose to explore other opportunities. This led me to MedImmune, AstraZeneca’s biologics division in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I was the second hire in a newly forming diabetes, metabolism, and obesity group, essentially helping to build the infrastructure from the ground up. It felt like starting a company within a company, as we inherited and initiated projects, many of which were analogous to the development of GLP-1-based drugs like semaglutide. My work there included antibody conjugates of GLP-1 and other gut peptides, which informed the foundation for my future company, DTX Pharma.
A critical learning from this period was the use of fatty acids to enhance peptide drug half-life and efficacy. For example, diabetes drugs like Ozempic achieve their extended half-life by attaching fatty acids to peptides, preventing rapid kidney clearance and allowing them to remain in circulation long enough to improve glucose homeostasis and reduce food intake.
Despite my professional success at AstraZeneca, I missed San Diego and aspired to build my own company. I returned to the area to join Regulus Therapeutics, a small biotech working on RNA therapeutics. My intention was to gain experience in capital raising and business development, but repeated management and strategic changes made it clear that I wouldn’t achieve my goal of creating a drug at Regulus.
In 2017, I decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship. After resigning, I drafted a list of my top ideas for a new company, and the concept of RNA therapeutics with a lipid or fatty acid delivery mechanism stood out. This idea became the foundation for DTX Pharma. The central thesis was to address the delivery challenges of RNA therapeutics—specifically their inability to effectively target tissues beyond the liver. By leveraging fatty acids, we not only improved circulation stability but also enabled RNA molecules to penetrate other tissues.
The major breakthrough for DTX Pharma was finding a “killer application” for our platform, which we identified as Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, particularly Type 1A. This focus ultimately led to the acquisition of DTX Pharma by Novartis after about six years, both for the platform technology and the lead indication.
Since the acquisition, I’ve been involved in various projects, collaborating with investors such as RA Capital, serving on company boards, and advising several biotech companies in San Diego and Boston. These experiences continue to fuel my passion for innovation and contribute to the biotech ecosystem.
Could you expand on the programs you’ve worked on, maybe highlighting those you are most proud of or passionate about?
The project I’m most proud of and passionate about is addressing Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, specifically Type 1A (CMT1A). This condition was the “killer application” for DTX Pharma and played a central role in our work.
CMT1A is a peripheral neuropathy that affects individuals from childhood through adulthood. Approximately 85–90% of patients are diagnosed before their 18th birthday. The disorder significantly impacts mobility and dexterity, leading to issues such as difficulty balancing, frequent falls (which can result in broken bones), challenges with gripping, eating, and in some cases, the need for limb replacements or prosthetics. Many patients rely on braces and other assistive devices to manage their symptoms, making it a lifelong and often debilitating condition.
I’m especially proud of DTX Pharma’s efforts to shine a spotlight on CMT1A. We chose this disease not only because there was a strong business case—with an estimated 100,000 patients or more in the U.S. alone—but also because it was a largely neglected therapeutic area. Unlike more competitive fields such as muscle or cardiac disorders, there was an opportunity to lead in CMT1A research and truly make a difference.
Through our work, we partnered with the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Research Foundation (CMTRF) and engaged with patients to better understand their experiences. Their letters of encouragement and visits to our site were incredibly inspiring for our team. Even though the drug we developed is still early in its journey—it’s set to enter first-in-human trials for CMT1A in the coming months—I’m proud of the contributions DTX made to the field. We not only advanced scientific understanding but also raised awareness among investors and other stakeholders, inspiring new efforts in this space.
I continue to collaborate with companies and organizations working on CMT1A and remain committed to the cause. I’ve promised both patients and myself that I’ll continue supporting efforts to find a cure until the disease is eradicated—or until I retire. This mission remains a significant part of my work and personal dedication.
You’re currently advising a number of biotechs and investors – can you tell me more about the work you’re doing with Palm Therapeutics, Actio Biosciences, Transcera and Sinopia and how you got involved?
First and foremost, I look for companies that are data-driven, thoughtful, and systematic in their approach. These traits are critical to success. My process involves a rigorous review, often meeting with companies five or six times. I make it clear upfront that I’m not interested in equity or cash during this initial phase—I just want to build a relationship and assess if we can work well together. During this time, I evaluate how they think, how they navigate challenges, whether they pivot when necessary, and how they follow the data. Ethics and integrity are, of course, non-negotiable qualities I also prioritize.
This method has led me to work with companies that align with these principles. Another factor I gravitate towards is working with young CEOs. Having been in their shoes in the not so distant past, I feel I can help them navigate challenges and, ideally, avoid some of the mistakes I made. While they’ll inevitably make their own mistakes, my experience can provide a framework to guide them. Companies like Transcera, Palm Therapeutics, and Synopia, to a degree, fall into this category.
For example, Transcera is working with lipids in novel ways, leveraging their technology to develop degraders. What’s impressive is how the team pivoted from being an oral RNA therapeutics company to focusing on degraders—because they followed the data. Their thoughtfulness and attention to detail are remarkable, and I was so impressed by their approach that I recently joined their board.
Palm Therapeutics focuses on inhibiting endogenous lipidation, specifically palmitoylation, which is significant for certain proteins in the cancer space, such as constitutively active KRAS or NRAS proteins. By targeting these pathways, Palm is addressing a range of cancers, and their approach is both innovative and grounded in strong science.
With Actio, David Goldstein’s leadership and expertise immediately stood out. His background and knowledge, coupled with a team that produces rigorous, thorough data, made it a natural fit. One of their indications happens to be Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), which resonated with me given my experience with this disease. I approached David to see if my insights in communicating CMT to investors and pharma might be of use, and it’s been a mutually enriching collaboration. I’ve probably learned as much from him as he has from me.
Finally, Sinopia is a smaller company working in the Parkinson’s space. They have incredible non-human primate data and are on the cusp of moving into the clinic next year. Their data is thorough, their approach is systematic, and their ability to address rigorous scientific questions is impressive. While still in the early stages of our relationship, I am hoping to leverage my network to help them raise capital and connect with the right stakeholders to see their lead asset into the clinic.
Given your experience across multiple modalities (small molecules, antibody/peptide conjugates, RNA therapeutics), what are some recent advances in receptor biology you are most excited about, and how do you see them impacting disease treatment?
There are two areas I’m particularly excited about right now. The first is the advancement of technologies enabling drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). While this has been a focus of research for over a decade, we’re now starting to see real progress. One notable example is RNA therapeutics. Currently, these drugs often need to be administered intrathecally, which presents challenges such as a limited therapeutic index and inadequate distribution within the central nervous system (CNS). Moreover, these molecules are quickly cleared from the CNS, restricting their potential impact on various conditions where RNA therapeutics could be the optimal modality.
Emerging technologies—such as transferrin receptor (TFR)-mediated delivery and CD98-targeting approaches—are showing promise. These technologies could enable intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) delivery of enzymes, antibodies, or RNA therapeutics, allowing for deeper and broader distribution in the brain. This has the potential to increase the likelihood of successfully addressing diseases like Huntington’s, ALS, or Alzheimer’s.
We’re still in the early stages of understanding these mechanisms and optimizing their use, but I’m confident that within the next decade, we’ll see more than a dozen drugs leveraging TFR or similar strategies. Some validation of these approaches comes from Avidity Biosciences, a local company whose work in neuromuscular diseases such as FSHD, DMD, and DM1 has been phenomenal. While their work doesn’t focus on the brain, it demonstrates the feasibility of receptor-mediated delivery technologies, which could eventually be adapted for CNS applications.
The second area I’m excited about is the emergence of new companies dedicated to identifying tissue-specific receptors—whether in the kidney, heart, or immune cells—that can be harnessed for RNA therapeutic delivery. While companies like Avidity and DTX Pharma have made significant strides in expanding RNA therapeutic delivery beyond the liver, there’s been a recent surge in both funding and scientific interest in identifying receptors in tissues that have historically been challenging for RNA therapeutics.
Unlocking these receptors could open the door to treating a wide range of diseases. While delivery remains one of the biggest hurdles for RNA therapeutics, the progress being made in this space is inspiring. These innovations not only represent potential additions to my portfolio but also areas I’d consider for starting or leading my next venture.
What are some of the challenges as it relates to hiring and culture when you are building a biotech?
This is a tricky question, but I can share a couple of key memories from my time at DTX Pharma that might provide some insight. When we started, it was just me. Then it was Jill Magnus and me. From there, we grew to five, then ten, then twenty, and eventually fifty people. One of the most eye-opening experiences during that early growth phase was realizing the profound impact a single new hire could have on the company. In small teams, adding one person introduces new expertise, fresh perspectives, and new questions. That influence can often be positive, but because it’s so pronounced, it’s crucial to ensure new hires are philosophically aligned with the team.
By alignment, I mean that their approach to thinking, reacting to data, and designing experiments should mesh well with the existing team’s ethos. If it doesn’t, there’s a risk of creating division or misalignment, which can be magnified in a small team. Early on, you really feel these dynamics. It’s important to intentionally set both the new hire and the team up for success by clearly defining roles and responsibilities and maintaining open communication.
On a personal note, one of my core philosophies has always been to hire people better than me at something, give them the support they need, and then step back to let them excel. But I’ll admit that this wasn’t always easy, especially in areas I was deeply invested in, like science.
As a scientist at heart—a pharmacologist and the scientific founder of DTX Pharma—it was a big shift for me to delegate scientific leadership. When we hired an exceptional scientist, initially as the SVP of Biology, it was clear that if he succeeded, he would quickly become the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). We were philosophically aligned, and I had full confidence in him. However, in those first few weeks (or months—it’s hard to recall exactly), I noticed something: the team continued to look to me for scientific decisions instead of going to him. This dynamic wasn’t fair to him, and it slowed his ability to establish himself as the scientific leader. It also frustrated both of us. After seeking advice from one of my mentors, James, I realized the problem: my presence was inadvertently holding him back. The solution was simple but not easy—I needed to step aside.
For the next month, I intentionally removed myself from scientific meetings and let him take the reins. We worked offline on things that required my input, but I stayed out of his way during team discussions. This gave him the space to build relationships and establish his leadership. Over time, he fully stepped into the role of the company’s scientific guru, which wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t consciously stepped back.
That experience taught me an important lesson about leadership: sometimes, the best thing a CEO can do is get out of the way and trust their team. It was a pivotal moment in my growth as a leader and an example of how hiring, onboarding, and leadership dynamics all intertwine.
With the experience and insights you have gained, what advice would you give to those aspiring to become a biotech leader? What are some common challenges entrepreneurs need to overcome to find success?
There’s likely a lot of overlap between leadership and entrepreneurship, but I’ll try to separate them as best I can. For me, one of the most important things a leader can do is to be authentic, transparent, and lead by example. We’ve all encountered people who violate these principles, and it’s clear how detrimental that can be.
In biotech specifically, a crucial part of leadership is following the data. Data doesn’t lie. People may have different interpretations of it, but if you try to sweep unfavorable findings under the rug, people will notice—and they won’t follow you for long. Being transparent about what the data says and how you’re responding to it builds trust.
When it comes to entrepreneurship, relationships are vital. You can’t walk into a meeting with an investor or potential hire and expect an immediate “yes.” It takes time to build trust—often six months, a year, or more. You need to deliver on what you promise, come back with updates, and demonstrate progress. Too often, I see aspiring entrepreneurs who have a great idea, take a few meetings, hear a few “no’s,” and give up. That not only violates the principle of relationship-building but also highlights a lack of resilience.
Resilience is key. At DTX, which many would now consider a success, 97 out of 100 people told us “no.” And these rejections weren’t always about disliking the science or doubting our potential—it could be timing, fit, or other factors. Even in January of the year we were acquired for a billion dollars, my co-founders, teammates and I were wondering if anyone would say “yes” to funding us. You have to be willing to push through rejection and adapt.
Listening is another essential skill. As an entrepreneur, especially as a biotech CEO, pitching is like being a comedian testing new material. You have to listen to your audience, identify recurring themes or questions, and refine your approach accordingly. After pitching to five investors, you should reflect: What feedback or concerns are coming up? Is there a way to address those preemptively? Can we generate additional data or adjust our presentation? At DTX, whenever we encountered confusion about the clinical path, we worked tirelessly to refine how we communicated it.
To sum up, qualities like authenticity, transparency, resilience, and ethical decision-making are fundamental for both leaders and entrepreneurs. In biotech, following the data and adapting based on feedback are also critical. Ultimately, success requires a mix of persistence, adaptability, and trustworthiness—whether you’re leading a team or starting a company.
