• Wheeler Bio

  Participated · Series A · Apr 2023

  Wheeler Bio is a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) built on its Modular CMC scientific platform, focused on accelerating antibody-based therapeutic candidates from discovery into clinical trials. It provides integrated services including manufacturability assessments, stable pool and clone development, process and analytical method development, process demonstration, technology transfer, and cGMP manufacturing. The company emphasizes a customer-intimate approach to build robust CMC packages vital for regulatory filings and ongoing manufacturing. Wheeler plans to broaden capabilities, expand its partner base and team, and is planning a 52,000 square-foot large-scale biologics manufacturing facility adjacent to a biomanufacturing workforce training center at Convergence in the Oklahoma City Innovation District. The company is headquartered in Oklahoma City and cites regional advantages such as lower business costs and a growing biomanufacturing workforce. The recent financing is intended to fund these expansion and capability-build efforts. Wheeler Bio is an Oklahoma City-based contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) focused on the gene-to-IND supply chain. Its primary product is Portable CMC, an open-source "CMC middleware" that integrates discovery CROs and CDMOs to streamline translational steps. Portable CMC includes a complement of integrated development services, including manufacturability assessments, stable pool and clone development, process and analytical method development, process demonstration, and technology transfer into CGMP production. The platform also enhances business integrations that speed up translational steps while lowering technical, regulatory, and business risks. Wheeler Bio plans to use the $31M Series A to complete its CGMP cell banking and 500 L drug substance manufacturing facility in The Ziggurat in downtown Oklahoma City. Leadership includes CEO Dr. Jesse McCool, Chief Development Officer Dr. Brian Berquist, and Christian Kanady. Wheeler Bio offers Portable CMC™, a platform that integrates with preclinical discovery to accelerate the discovery-to-IND path. Portable CMC is designed to provide faster, easier, and more predictable tech transfer and clinical supply by partnering with preclinical CROs and antibody drug developers. The company has an initial focus on antibody therapeutics and is partnered with Alloy Therapeutics to extend discovery offerings into IND-enabling manufacturing. Wheeler Bio is headquartered in Oklahoma City and operates pilot labs inside Alloy Therapeutics’ Boston facility. It closed a $14M Seed financing to expand its team and make Portable CMC more broadly available. Scientific and operational leadership for Portable CMC is led by CTO Dr. Stephen Hamilton, and the company emphasizes speed, predictability, and shared success with CDMO and CRO partners.

• Vernal Biosciences

  Participated · Equity · Jun 2022

  Vernal Biosciences is a fully integrated contract development and manufacturing organization focused on manufacturing and formulating mRNA and LNP-mRNA. It offers end-to-end services including cell banking, plasmid DNA production, mRNA synthesis, and formulation into a variety of lipid chemistries, leveraging platform process and analytical technologies. The company is completing its first state-of-the-art GMP manufacturing facility, scheduled to be online July 2023, and is wrapping up cGMP manufacturing readiness for that site. Vernal plans to accelerate a second site next year to support larger-scale cGMP manufacturing for commercial mRNA drug products. Financially, Vernal announced a $20MM funding round led by Ampersand Capital Partners and Charles River Labs and previously completed a $21MM round in May 2022 that included Alloy Therapeutics. The company has scaled to 65 employees, added dozens of new customers, and increased scale by a factor of 20x. Vernal Biosciences is a Colchester, VT-based company that manufactures mRNA and formulates LNP-mRNA. It offers a complete range of mRNA-related services and products, including sequence design and screening support, scaled-down and scaled-up manufacturing of high-purity mRNA and LNP-mRNA, and platform process development technologies. The company plans to expand to full GMP manufacturing capabilities to support drug discovery through clinical development. Use cases cited include gene editing and regulation, cellular programming, vaccines, mRNA replacement, oncology, autoimmune conditions, and protein degradation. Led by CEO and founder Christian Cobaugh, Vernal recently closed a $21 million financing to support growth and its planned GMP buildout. The company’s board will include existing member Errik Anderson (Alloy Therapeutics) and new board members David Anderson (Ampersand) and Gustavo Mahler (Dynamk). Vernal Biosciences develops and provides high‑purity mRNA manufacturing services for research, preclinical, and planned clinical programs. The company offers manufacturing‑research‑use mRNA today while scaling a universal, Quality‑by‑Design platform to simplify regulatory interactions and accelerate client projects. Vernal is fine‑tuning processes to enable clients to move more quickly from discovery to clinical manufacturing without starting from scratch. The team is led by founder and CEO Christian Cobaugh, an mRNA veteran with prior process and manufacturing leadership at Omega Therapeutics, Translate Bio, Arcturus Therapeutics, and Alexion. Vernal is already engaging clients on research and preclinical projects and is scaling operations to add GMP clinical manufacturing capability. The company was founded in 2021 and is located in Colchester/Burlington, Vermont.

No current team members are available.