My first job at a public company was when I joined Biogen or Biogen Idec as it was then called. One of the rituals of the team was to listen in to the quarterly earnings calls, usually on speaker in a conference room as we drank our morning cup of joe and caught up on emails. It was interesting to hear company leaders describe R&D progress and the quarterly performance figures but the best bit was the incisive analyst questions.

This blog post was written by Aoife Brennan, CEO of Synlogic, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.

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Biotech is in the midst of an incredible era of innovation: new modalities and novel medicines delivering real value to patients, leading to a decade-long bull cycle. It’s been exhilarating to watch and participate in this market, and venture capital activity in biopharma remains near all-time highs.

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Cells die all the time in a controlled manner that’s perfectly normal. But the way cells die matters. Sometimes cell death is violent, sparking inflammation believed to contribute to disease. Quench Bio aims to develop drugs that stop the uncontrolled forms of programmed cell death, potentially halting inflammatory disease. The Cambridge, MA-based startup has come out of stealth with $50 million in Series A financing intended to produce a drug candidate ready for tests in humans in about three years.

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2019 was an exciting and busy year at Atlas Venture. Take a look at our year filled with new joiners, partnerships, financings, R&D progress, and more.

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When we started to think about changing our company name, we knew it wasn’t something to take lightly — changing our brand and outward facing image was a big deal!  Several companies rebranded over the last few years and built successful biotech companies, some publicly-traded (e.g., Translate Bio, Aimmune); nevertheless the process as well as the ultimate messaging seemed tricky and important to have a solid grasp on and plan for.  We considered changing our name last year and decided to hold off, preferring to wait for a more ideal time.  We built some brand recognition following our January 2019 Celgene (now BMS) alliance, which included the AHR antagonist and kynurenine degrading enzyme (“Kynase”) programs, but we were still a young company of just over three years.  If we were going to change our name, it was now or never.  We are working to build a sustainable clinical stage company and felt that the rebranding was an important component of establishing a solid foundation for the future.

This blog was written by Mark Manfredi, CEO of Ikena Oncology, and guest blogger Maude Tessier, CBO, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.

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