California Biotech Insights

Biotech Leader Spotlight

Nicole White

CMC at Assembly Bio

December 12, 2024

Nicole White, PhD, serves as the Chief Manufacturing Officer of Assembly Bio. Nicole joined Assembly in 2020 and previously served as the Company’s Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing. Prior to joining Assembly, she headed up Process Chemistry at Gossamer Bio and led Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) for multiple early and late-stage programs in development. Prior to that she held progressive leadership roles at Gilead Sciences to advance multiple programs from Phase 1 through commercial launch and helped guide the drug substance manufacturing and global outsourcing strategy. While at Gilead she contributed to the development and commercial launch of multiple antiviral programs including Harvoni®, Vemlidy® and Vosevi®. Nicole earned a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, San Diego.

Biotech Market Update

Funding for Atlas, Nuvig, Maze, Cala, and Dimension

December 9, 2024

Recent Funding: Atlas Venture (Cambridge, MA) Raises $450M for Early-Stage Biotech Fund Atlas Venture raised $450M for its 14th fund, maintaining its focus on seed-led venture creation in biotech startups. The firm prioritizes smaller, disciplined fund sizes to foster company building and avoid overexpansion, emphasizing adaptability and high returns. Since 2022, Atlas has launched 16 […]

Biotech Leader Spotlight

Tod Smeal

CSO of Cardiff Oncology

December 5, 2024

Dr. Tod Smeal has served as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Cardiff Oncology since January 2022. Previously he was CSO at Hexagon Bio (2020-2021), CSO of Cancer Biology at Eli Lilly and Company (2015-2020), Director at the Oncology Research Unit of Pfizer (2003-2015), and Senior Group Leader at the Sugen site of Pharmacia and Upjohn and Sugen (1998-2003). When Pfizer closed the Sugen site in 2003, Dr. Smeal continued his oncology research efforts on targeted therapies and their resistance mechanisms with Pfizer at their San Diego oncology research site. Subsequently in 2015, Dr. Smeal joined Eli Lilly where he led their oncology research efforts at Lilly Research Labs in Indianapolis. During his over 20 years in industry working on targeted therapies, Dr. Smeal has played key leadership roles in delivering about 20 FHD/NMEs and several FDA approved drugs (e.g., Lorbrena, Xalkori, Vizimpro and Nirogacestat). Dr. Smeal’s work in developing cancer therapies has been focused on intracellular signaling, kinases, drug pharmacology, and targeted therapies and their resistance mechanisms. He has over 45 publications which include high-impact publications in Cell, Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, JCO, Cancer Cell and Cancer Discovery.

Biotech Market Update

Roche acquires Poseida, Alector layoffs, Sarepta partners with Arrowhead

December 2, 2024

Recent Layoffs: Kronos Bio (SF/MA) Announces CEO Transition and Workforce Reduction Dr. Norbert Bischofberger steps down as President and CEO; Dr. Deborah Knobelman, previously COO and CFO, appointed as President and Interim CEO, effective December 3, 2024. Approximately 83% of Kronos Bio’s employees will be laid off by year-end as part of cost-cutting measures and […]

Biotech Market Update

Valora raises $30M, Venrock $500M Fund, BridgeBio FDA Approval

November 25, 2024

Recent Funding: Valora Therapeutics (San Diego) Raised $30 million in Seed Funding Valora Therapeutics, emerging from the lab of Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi, focuses on developing antibody-lectin chimeras (AbLecs) to target glycosylated proteins involved in cancer and immune diseases. These AbLecs are engineered to improve the precision and efficacy of cancer immunotherapy. The company secured […]

Biotech Market Update

TRex and Trace funding, Avenzo ADC, Gilead layoffs and more

November 18, 2024

Recent Funding: TRex Bio (SF) Raises $84M Series B to Advance Immune Drug Research TRex Bio secured $84M in Series B funding to push its second drug, TRB-061, into Phase 1 trials in 2025 for atopic dermatitis and ulcerative colitis. The company focuses on activating regulatory T cells (Tregs) to treat autoimmune diseases. Existing partnerships […]