Participated · Series B · Mar 2023

Flare Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., that focuses exclusively on drugging transcription factors using an integrated discovery platform to identify ligands to previously undrugged proteins. The company has prioritized FX-111, a first-in-class degrader targeting ARON for prostate cancer, which received IND clearance and is expected to enter clinical development in Q3 2026. FlareTx is also advancing an ARON RIPTAC program through preclinical development to complement FX-111 and expand its ability to address AR-driven prostate cancer. Separately, FX-909, an oral PPARG inhibitor targeting luminal lineage biology in urothelial cancer, is in a Phase 1B dose expansion and the company intends to progress it via an external partnership. The recent $85M Series C provides capital to advance these programs, support working capital and general corporate purposes. The company appointed Anna Protopapas as CEO concurrent with the financing to guide its next phase of clinical and corporate development.

Participated · Series A · Sep 2021

Blue Note Therapeutics develops prescription digital therapeutics focused exclusively on patients suffering from cancer, aiming to reduce anxiety, depression, and other cancer-related distress. The company is building a pipeline of clinically validated prescription digital therapeutics in collaboration with cancer research and patient communities. Led by CEO Geoffrey Eich and based in San Francisco, Blue Note emphasizes evidence-based therapeutic development. Recent financing will strengthen the company’s capacity to advance its therapeutic pipeline. The company’s core product strategy centers on clinically validated digital interventions tailored to cancer patients. Blue Note Therapeutics is a prescription digital therapeutics company focused on treating cancer-related distress, anxiety, and depression. Its lead product, BNT001, has received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation (June 2020) but is not cleared by the FDA. The company also launched a COVID Cancer Care digital wellness program in 2020 to help adults with cancer cope with pandemic-related stress. Blue Note holds licensing agreements with several leading cancer centers and universities, including the University of Miami, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, to digitize evidence-based, cancer-specific therapies. Proceeds from the Series A will be used to scale the organization and fund near-term clinical trials of its lead prescription digital therapeutic and to support development of its pipeline assets. The company emphasizes expanding access to evidence-based, cancer-specific mental health treatments.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2021

Ajax Therapeutics is developing next‑generation, selective JAK inhibitors to address unmet needs in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), including myelofibrosis. Its lead candidate, AJ1‑11095, is a first‑in‑class Type II JAK2 inhibitor designed via a collaboration with Schrödinger using structure‑based drug design and large‑scale computational methods. Preclinical data show AJ1‑11095 maintains efficacy against MPN cells that become resistant to chronic Type I JAK2 inhibition and is intended to provide greater efficacy with potential disease‑modifying effects. The company plans to advance AJ1‑11095 into the clinic for myelofibrosis later this year and to use proceeds to push its broader MPN pipeline forward. Ajax emphasizes selective, structure‑guided approaches informed by its founding scientists’ cancer and structural biology insights. Ajax Therapeutics pursues uniquely selective small-molecule therapies targeting key cytokine signaling pathways that drive hematologic malignancies. The company combines disease and structural biology insights from its scientific founders with computational drug-discovery capabilities through a partnership with Schrödinger. Ajax’s pipeline centers on structurally enabled targets and is advanced via integrated discovery work with Schrödinger scientists to design compounds with desired selectivity and drug-like properties. The company began as an academic consortium and was founded in 2019, leveraging clinical and research collaborations with institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and NYU Langone Health. Proceeds from the recent financing will support advancement of lead programs toward the clinic, sustain the discovery pipeline, and potentially expand research beyond hematologic malignancies. Ajax also plans to build out its scientific and technical leadership team as it advances its programs.

Participated · Series C · Feb 2018

Cota is a New York-based company led by CEO Miruna Sasu that provides oncology real-world data (RWD) and analytics using technology-supported human data abstraction methods. Its core product is an RWD platform and services that organize complex, fragmented patient data to support cancer research and drug development. The company expanded its data platform to cover nearly 2 million cancer patient lives, quadrupling data access in two years and adding full genomic data. Cota is integrating emerging data types including clinicogenomics, social determinants of health, and sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). It launched Vantage, a product that gives subscribers real-time access to broad, curated datasets that are proactively refreshed. The company also introduced services to support life sciences companies with FDA and EMA drug submissions, integrating RWD in R&D, enabling HEOR, and informing market-access strategies. Cota received an investment from Deerfield Management and existing investors; the amount was not disclosed, and the funds will be used to further expand its RWD platform and services to drive more efficient and inclusive drug development. Cota builds real-world evidence and data analytics products powered by its patented Cota Nodal Address (CNA), a digital classification methodology developed by physicians and data scientists to precisely categorize patient factors, diseases and therapies. The company enriches medical records to create research-grade data and pairs those datasets with analysis, visualization and management tools. Its real-world evidence sets are used by life science companies to broaden clinical trial applicability, improve measured efficacies and lower trial costs. Cota serves healthcare providers, payers and life sciences customers and intends to scale those solutions across those segments. The company is led by CEO John Hervey and executive chairman Andrew Pecora, M.D. Financially, Cota completed a $40M Series C to support its scaling plans. Cota builds research‑grade, real‑world data and precision analytics to measure cancer treatment outcomes using its patented Cota Nodal Address (CNA) digital classification system. The CNA transforms prognostically significant variables into a digital code to precisely categorize patient factors, diseases, and therapies for benchmarking, research, and value‑based care. Its customers include pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, and insurance companies, and it has partnerships with Novartis, Celgene, and data provider Foundation Medicine. The company has received strategic investments from Novartis, Celgene, Foundation Medicine, and Horizon Healthcare. Cota’s CEO, Eric Schultz, says the company has seen strong revenue growth and rapid adoption of its products across multiple markets. A. Dana Callow, Jr. of Boston Millennia Partners is joining Cota’s board to provide guidance across provider, payer, life sciences, and regulatory environments. COTA (Cancer Outcomes Tracking and Analysis) operates a cloud-based platform that aggregates cancer patient data and performs real-time genetic sorting of certain cancers while providing outcome tracking and reporting to physicians. The platform aims to help tailor therapy decisions—for example, identifying breast cancer subtypes where chemotherapy is unlikely to help—thereby potentially reducing unnecessary treatment and costs. COTA plans to use new funding to expand development of its platform and to hire biostatisticians, outcome analysts, data support, and sales and marketing staff. The company intends to launch its first commercial product with the raised capital. Prior to this Series A, COTA received a seed round from private sources and RCCA, one of the largest oncology groups in the country.

Participated · Series C · Feb 2018

Oric Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage oncology company discovering and developing novel therapies targeting treatment-resistant cancers. Its lead asset, ORIC-101, is a potent small-molecule inhibitor of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and is the subject of an ongoing Phase 1 study. The company plans to pursue clinical development of ORIC-101 in patients with treatment-resistant solid tumors, including combinations with immuno-oncology therapies and with chemotherapy. The Series C proceeds will support clinical studies of ORIC-101 and research across pipeline programs targeting mechanisms of resistance. After this financing, Oric has raised over $119M in equity capital to date. The company is led by CEO Richard Heyman, Ph.D., CSO Valeria Fantin, Ph.D., and CMO Leonard Reyno, M.D., and was founded by Charles Sawyers, M.D., and Scott Lowe, Ph.D., who are on the faculty at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Oric Pharmaceuticals discovers and develops small‑molecule drugs that target treatment‑resistant cancers. It is initially focusing on resistance mechanisms associated with androgen receptor (AR) therapies in advanced (castration‑resistant) prostate cancer. The company works to gain new clinical understanding of tumor resistance mechanisms at the molecular level and to replicate those mechanisms using laboratory‑based models to identify actionable drug targets with clear development pathways. Oric intends to use the proceeds from its recent financing to advance its first drug candidate into initial clinical trials and to further develop its pipeline. The company raised $53M in a Series B financing to support these plans. Oric was founded by Charles Sawyers, M.D., and Scott Lowe, Ph.D., and is led by interim CEO Richard Heyman, Ph.D., and CSO Valeria Fantin, Ph.D.