A newly launched biotech company has secured $65 million in financing as it seeks to develop the first-ever treatment for a disorder that its co-founder described as “the life being squeezed out of the liver.” Cambridge-based Akero Therapeutics is focused on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a disease in which liver fat accumulates in the body, sometimes leading to liver failure. NASH affects an estimated 16 million Americans, but there are currently no approved drugs targeting the disorder. Nationwide, only a handful of treatments are in late-stage clinical trials.

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In the quest towards building high-performing teams, biopharma can lift a page from the tech playbook around agile organizations.  This blog builds upon comparisons with tech relating to business model, investment returns and the dynamics of the different VC ecosystems.  In this post, I would like to draw lessons from how tech startups actually work and organize themselves.

This blog was written by Jonathan Montagu, CEO and co-founder of Hotspot Therapeutics, as part of the From The Trenches feature of LifeSciVC.  

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A year after Ron Renaud’s team at RaNA bagged rights to an RNA platform at Shire and relaunched as Translate Bio, the group has scored a big pharma alliance with Sanofi.

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Today, Zafgen announced my resignation from their Board of Directors after 12 years of service.

It’s a bittersweet moment for me: having been there since the beginning, I’ve watched, and supported, the Zafgen story through all the ups and downs that a dozen years can bring. My partners and I at Atlas Venture remain significant investors and supporters of Zafgen and its mission; my departure has nothing to do with a lack of enthusiasm, and my partner Peter Barrett remains Zafgen’s chairman.

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