In The News
October 6, 2021
Oct 6, 2021, 8:00 AM EDT
Take a look around the many of the biggest startups in the drug industry, and you'll notice that they often have one cofounder in common.
George Church, for example, is the Harvard University professor behind up and coming companies like the gene therapy startup Dyno Therapeutics. In 2018 alone, his laboratory spun out 16 new companies, according to a university profile.
As many as 40 companies can be linked back to another laboratory run by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Robert Langer. His work at the has led some to call him "the Edison of Medicine".
These two scientists, and others who are well-known in the drug industry, have had decades to become top entrepreneurs.
Now a new class of serial entrepreneurs is coming up through the ranks to create top startups.
Insider scoured the founding teams of the companies that went public in the last five years, venture creation firms, startups at incubators like LabCentral and Y Combinator, plus suggestions from industry insiders, to identify the young entrepreneurs making a mark in the drug industry. We focused on founders under age 45 who have helped create three or more startups.
What we found is a group of 12 entrepreneurs and scientists worth watching.
Several of them are installed at investment firms, where they churn out new startup concepts. Industry giant Flagship Pioneering has built up a team of up-and-coming founders, seven of whom ended up on Insider's list.
This builds on the close relationships that their predecessors have built with top VC firms. Langer and fellow scientist-entrepreneur Dan Anderson both have a relationship with Boston investment firm Polaris Partners. Tillman Gerngross, who has created several companies including antibody discovery startup Adimab, works with SV Health Investors.
Others on the list are operating research labs in biotech hubs like Boston.
Take a look at the up-and-coming serial entrepreneurs you should be keeping an eye on:
Ankit Mahadevia has worked in multiple facets of the biotech industry, including VC firm Atlas Venture, consulting firm McKinsey & Co., and drugmaker Genentech. He is currently CEO of public company Spero Therapeutics.
One of the companies he cofounded, Translate Bio, was acquired by Sanofi last month for $3.2 billion.
Companies founded: Spero Therapeutics, Synlogic, Rodin Therapeutics, Translate Biopharma, Annovation Bio and Arteaus Therapeutics.
Weinstein started at Flagship Pioneering as a fellow before formally joining the biotech giant in 2015. Her background is in global health and the microbiome.
Ring Therapeutics, which Weinstein cofounded, is currently valued at close to $500 million, according to Pitchbook.
Companies founded: Laronde, Ring Therapeutics, Inzen Therapeutics, and an unlaunched Flagship company, FL69.
Michael Fischbach is an associate professor of bioengineering and microbiology at Stanford University. His lab focuses on the microbiome, the natural bacteria that exist around the human body.
Outside of his lab, Fischback has helped create several companies. One of them, Revolution Medicines, raised $238 million in an IPO last year.
Companies founded: Federation Bio, Revolution Medicines and Viralogic.
Lea Hachigan studied neurobiology at Harvard University and cellular neuroscience at MIT. She is currently an entrepreneur-in-residence at Massachusetts-based investment firm, the Longwood Fund, led by noted biotech entrepreneur Christoph Westphal.
The Longwood Fund, Atlas Venture, RA Capital and Takeda Pharmaceuticals' venture arm invested in her startup Be Biopharma's $52 million Series A round last year.
Companies founded: Be Biopharma, ImmuneID, Immunitas Therapeutics and TScan Therapeutics
Geoffrey von Maltzahn cofounded two companies while getting his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2009, he joined biotech investment giant Flagship Pioneering. He is now a partner at the firm and has created microbiome, cell and gene therapy companies.
One of his companies, Sana Biotechnology, raised $588 million when it went public last February. The IPO is the largest ever for a biotech company that hasn't yet begun studying any of its experimental treatments in people, according to Renaissance Capital.
Companies founded: Tessera Therapeutics, Generate Biomedicines, Cobalt Medicines (which became Sana Biotechnology), Axcella Health, Kaleido Biosciences, Seres Therapeutics, and multiple Flagship companies in stealth mode (FL59, FL76, FL79, FL85, FL86 and FL87).
Rubens is a principal at Flagship Pioneering and has cofounded several of the firm's startups. He joined Flagship in 2015 after getting his PhD in microbiology from MIT.
Rubens helped found gene therapy startup Tessera Therapeutics. The startup is currently worth $780 million, according to Pitchbook.
Companies founded: Tessera Therapeutics, Sana Biotechnology, and three companies currently in stealth mode: FL85, FL86 and FL87.
Marc Lajoie worked on reprogramming T-cells to target and kill cancer cells at the University of Washington. Since 2018, he's founded multiple companies developing new cell therapies for cancer and other diseases.
One of the companies he cofounded, Lyell Immunopharma, raised $425 million in its June 2021 IPO.
Companies founded: Outpace Bio, GRO Biosciences, Lyell Immunopharma.
Gibson studied antibiotic resistance at Washington University in St. Louis. She then went to work for microbiome company Kaleido Biosciences, which was founded by Flagship Pioneering. She left Kaleido and joined Flagship in 2017.
The first company she helped create at Flagship, Generate Biomedicines, raised $50 million in Series A funding last year.
Companies founded: Generate Biomedicines and stealth Flagship companies FL79, FL85 and FL87.
Feng Zhang runs a laboratory at the Broad Institute of MIT and Havard, which has worked on the gene-editing technology CRISPR. This approach is still being tested in humans but has earned a 2020 Nobel Prize for two other scientists — Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier. Several companies have licensed technology from his lab or been founded by Zhang.
One of Zhang's companies, Beam Therapeutics, currently has a $5.7 billion market cap.
Companies founded: Editas Medicine, Beam Therapeutics, Arbor Biotechnologies and Sherlock Biosciences.
Plugis studied chemistry at Stanford University and Middlebury College, while also serving as the vice president of a life science due dilligence firm. He joined Flagship in 2016, after completing its fellowship program.
One of the companies Plugis helped create, Cellarity, raised $123 million in a Series B round in February.
Companies founded: Cellarity, Laronde and stealth Flagship startups FL75 and FL83.
Cameron has been with Flagship Pioneering since 2016. Prior to that, he was a postdoctoral fellow in MIT professor Jim Collins' laboratory. Collins is a pioneer in the synthetic biology field and a cofounder of Sherlock Biosciences, Synlogic Therapeutics and Enbiotix.
While at Flagship, Cameron was involved in the formation of Repertoire Immune Medicines, which raised a $189 million Series B round in April.
Companies founded: Cogen (which merged with another company to become Repertoire Immune Medicines), and the stealth-mode Flagship startups FL63, FL68, FL78.
Berry has founded more than 20 agriculture, biotech and technology companies during his 16-year tenure at Flagship Pioneering.
He is currently CEO of Flagship-founded firm Valo Health. The company is currently in the process of merging with a SPAC in a $2.8 billion deal.
Companies founded: Omega Therapeutics, Seres Therapeutics, Evelo Biosciences, Repertoire Immune Medicines, T2 Biosystems, Axcella Health, Repertoire Immune Medicines, and Senda Biosciences.
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