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Frontier Path Fund Launch and MedTech Secondaries
- A Frontier Path venture partner wrote about the Frontier Path fund launch, where Dr. Harneet Bath, the GP, was joined by notable speakers including Ben Lamm of Colossal Biosciences, Dr. Josh Makower of Stanford, Andrey Doronichev of Bioptic, and Dr. Edward Zuckerberg, Chief Dental Officer at Viome and Venture Partner at Frontier Path.
- The event provided an opportunity to connect with fellow investors and learn about Dr. Bath’s work in MedTech secondaries, which have been gaining popularity, with over 100 investments into high-flyer MedTech companies boasting a remarkable track record.
- Dr. Bath’s approach focuses on investing in medical technologies that are typically six years into their lifecycle and on the verge of being acquired by biotechs, offering spectacular returns with a lower risk profile than traditional venture investing.
- The secondary space continues to present remarkable discounts on established companies, many of which may still be trapped in the inflated valuations of 2021, with only 15% of unicorns avoiding a down round that year.
- The author had the opportunity to compare notes with other investors and gain valuable insights into navigating the complexities of the secondary market and uncovering opportunities in this attractive segment of the investment landscape.
Ben Lamm and Colossal Biosciences: De-Extinction and Conservation
- Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences, discussed his company’s efforts in de-extinction, including the use of advanced technologies like gene editing, synthetic biology, and AI to revive extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo bird.
- Key takeaways from Ben Lamm’s talk on de-extinction include the use of innovative technologies for de-extinction and conservation, sustainable monetization and impactful strategies, and environmental and climate change benefits.
- Colossal is exploring innovative monetization strategies beyond traditional zoos, focusing on reintroducing species to their natural habitats, and is tapping into ecotourism, carbon credits, and biodiversity credits to create sustainable financial models that align with conservation goals.
- The revival of species like the woolly mammoth could have significant environmental benefits, such as aiding in the preservation of permafrost and mitigating climate change by restoring ecosystems that store carbon.
- Ben Lamm discussed his entrepreneurial journey, emphasizing his experience in building, scaling, and exiting tech companies, and his fascination with synthetic biology and AI, which led him to Dr. George Church and his move to Colossal.
- Colossal is a company focused on de-extincting species, starting with the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger, and dodo bird, with the goal of accelerating conservation efforts through genetic technologies and restoring biodiversity.
- The company’s technology aims to bring back extinct species and aid in the preservation of endangered ones, with an integrated toolkit that can be used for other endangered species, such as the northern white rhino.
- The de-extinction process involves using advanced genetic techniques to modify and enhance the genomes of related species, such as editing elephant DNA to bring back the woolly mammoth using samples from frozen zoos and museum collections.
- Colossal is also working on creating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to generate egg cells for species like the northern white rhino, and expects to have the first woolly mammoth calves by late 2028.
- The company’s founder, Lamm, acknowledges the scientific and ethical considerations of de-extinction, including the challenges of working with ancient DNA and the limitations of recovering viable genetic material.
- Lamm emphasizes the practical conservation benefits of de-extinction efforts, such as restoring certain ecosystems or helping mitigate climate change, but notes that the focus is not on resurrecting dinosaurs due to the lack of viable DNA and minimal ecological benefits.
- Colossal’s work is positioned as a bridge between synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, and conservation, offering a new avenue to tackle biodiversity loss and environmental degradation.
- The company is building technologies that can contribute to ongoing conservation efforts, including creating genetic rescue tools to help save species on the brink of extinction.
- Colossal has received significant interest from zoos and private collectors, but has pivoted towards exploring more sustainable and impactful monetization strategies that align with its core values.
- The company has achieved significant advancements in biotechnologies, including multiplex editing in marsupial cells with over 90% efficiency, which is a breakthrough in the biotechnology field.
- Lamm’s vision for Colossal is to not only revive extinct species but also create a sustainable future for biodiversity by revolutionizing conservation and restoring ecosystems with cutting-edge science.
- Colossal, a company focused on de-extinction, is exploring multiple revenue streams from its intellectual property, including plastic degradation, bioluminescence technologies, and early embryonic development.
- The company is also pursuing a monetization strategy by reintroducing animals into their natural habitats, which can provide long-term financial benefits through ecotourism, carbon credits, and biodiversity credits, while aligning with their values of animal conservation.
- Colossal has partnered with global brands and governments to save endangered species, offering both ecological and financial benefits, and has helped shorten the timeline for species recovery from decades to just a few years.
- The company employs advanced technologies, including computational analysis, synthetic biology, and directed evolution, and collaborates with a network of over 170 scientists and 17 research partners across multiple labs.
- The first woolly mammoth is expected to be the most expensive species the company works on, with an estimated cost in the mid-eight figures, but the company is also exploring other projects, such as using similar technology to enhance plant life for carbon removal.
- Colossal has spun out a project aimed at breaking down plastic using bacteria, which promises a solution to plastic waste, and the company envisions the possibility of venturing into plant-related projects in the future.
- The resurrection of extinct species like the woolly mammoth could have potential environmental benefits, including the reduction in the degradation of glaciers and the prevention of carbon release when permafrost thaws.
- The concept of “Arctic rewilding” is discussed as a potential solution to the climate crisis by leveraging ecological restoration efforts involving extinct or near-extinct species.
- One of the biggest challenges faced by Colossal’s CEO, Ben Lamm, is reprogramming academic scientists to think like product developers, as they come from a software and hardware background where product development is often highly iterative and product-driven.
- Dr. Bath emphasizes the importance of training future healthcare innovators and policy influencers, highlighting the impact of his program in creating successful startups and placing graduates in influential policy positions that drive global change.
Dr. Makower and the Biodesign Program: Healthcare Innovation
- Dr. Makower introduces Stanford’s Biodesign program, a transformative approach to healthcare innovation that focuses on training individuals through a structured process to create innovators and translate ideas from academia to real-world applications.
- The Biodesign methodology begins with identifying and listening to patients, understanding the broader context of the healthcare system, regulatory environment, and payment structures to create solutions that are more likely to succeed.
- Dr. Makower’s background, including founding a medical device incubator and starting several successful healthcare companies, reflects the impact of the Biodesign methodology in minimizing failures and ensuring innovations meet real needs.
- Successful innovators trained through Biodesign include Todd Britton, inventor of Shockwave, and Joel Goldsmith, who contributed to Abbott’s glucose monitoring technology, demonstrating the program’s ability to teach innovation as a skill.
- Biodesign graduates have created technologies that continue to transform the healthcare industry, such as a device to stimulate the brain and treat essential tremors, and companies like Viz.AI, which is revolutionizing radiology with AI technology.
- The program trains approximately 500 individuals annually, including undergraduates, graduate students, fellows, and faculty members at Stanford, from diverse disciplines, and extends its influence to executives at multinational corporations and faculty at universities worldwide.
- Biodesign’s training transforms the way individuals view their careers, teaching scientists to focus on the problem first, identify the technology that could address it, and then apply their expertise to create a solution.
- Dr. Makower touches on the future of healthcare innovation, highlighting the role of artificial intelligence, and the ongoing success of Biodesign graduates, with companies collectively touching over 13 million lives.
- Dr. Makower emphasizes the significant role of AI in modern healthcare innovation, particularly in diagnostics and treatment, and notes that his latest startup is an AI-based technology, illustrating the growing intersection between healthcare and AI.
- Through initiatives like Biodesign, Dr. Makower believes that the healthcare sector can continue to evolve and improve, driven by a new generation of innovators equipped with the right tools and methodologies to tackle complex challenges.
- Dr. Makower highlights the global success of a methodology that trains individuals, particularly students, to become innovators in their respective fields, and mentions a particularly exciting initiative in East Africa aimed at addressing maternal deaths caused by hemorrhage.
- A simple, scalable solution has been developed that could potentially save 100,000 lives annually, and this low-cost, low-resource innovation can benefit not only East Africa but also have application in developed countries.
- Dr. Makower argues that without the right policies in place, such as reimbursement structures and funding mechanisms for healthcare technologies, innovation cannot truly succeed, and his organization works with policymakers to shape policies at the governmental level.
- Dr. Makower’s program trains students at institutions like Stanford and places them in high-impact policy positions in Washington, D.C., including roles at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the White House, and agencies like the FDA and CMS.
- Dr. Makower asserts that AI will revolutionize healthcare by transforming data-driven decision-making, but acknowledges several barriers to its widespread adoption, including the potential for AI to “hallucinate” or generate incorrect facts.
- Dr. Makower warns that while AI’s ability to process large amounts of data shows promise, its application in healthcare requires careful oversight to avoid unvalidated treatments or diagnoses, and highlights the difficulty in tracking the long-term outcomes of AI in healthcare at a population level.
- Liability is another critical issue that Dr. Makower raises, particularly in a future where AI manages significant portions of healthcare, and notes that the consequences could be devastating if an AI system goes “rogue” and causes harm.
- Dr. Makower believes that the transition to AI-driven systems in healthcare could potentially create a gap in human healthcare providers, as it may disincentivize medical professionals from pursuing careers in primary care.
- Despite the challenges, Dr. Makower is optimistic about AI’s potential to transform medicine, particularly in areas such as drug discovery, diagnostics, and disease treatment, by synthesizing vast amounts of biological data and enabling the creation of previously unimaginable therapeutic solutions.
- However, rigorous testing and validation are necessary to ensure the safety and effectiveness of AI in healthcare, and its full potential has yet to be realized, with potential applications including simulating biological responses to interventions and streamlining the research and development cycle.
- Dr. Makower emphasizes that AI will soon become ubiquitous in healthcare and its widespread use will no longer be a distinguishing factor, shifting the focus to practical and innovative applications of AI.
- He argues that AI is intended to augment human abilities, not replace them, and that it can accelerate innovation by quickly prioritizing healthcare problems and streamlining the review of clinical literature.
- The integration of AI raises legal and ethical questions, particularly regarding patenting and intellectual property, and Dr. Makower advises caution until clearer legal frameworks are established.
- AI is not used directly for disease diagnosis at Stanford, but it enhances patient care by simplifying medical records and improving patient engagement, and Dr. Makower offers a balanced perspective on AI’s potential in healthcare, recognizing its transformative promise while highlighting challenges.
- Collaboration among medical professionals, technologists, policymakers, and legal experts will be crucial to maximizing benefits and minimizing risks as AI becomes more integrated in healthcare.
- Dr. Makower advocates for a system where financial interests do not overshadow education and healthcare values, emphasizing the need to protect founders and ensure the long-term success of innovations without exploitation.
- The goal is to create an ecosystem where education, innovation, and philanthropy work together to drive positive change in healthcare.
Andrey Doronichev and AI-Driven Drug Discovery
- Andrey Doronichev’s AI drug discovery talk highlights AI’s role in revolutionizing drug discovery, particularly in the chemistry phase, by optimizing molecule design, which could significantly reduce the cost and time associated with drug development.
- However, challenges remain in the clinical trial phase, where AI’s role is less impactful, and significant hurdles include the need for better benchmarking, proper validation of AI-generated molecules, and the biological complexity of human testing.
- Doronichev predicts that tech giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon will play a major role in the future of AI-driven drug discovery, potentially overtaking traditional pharmaceutical companies, and that this shift will require mastering key elements such as talent, data, and compute power.
- Andrey Doronichev, founder of Bioptic, presented an overview of how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming the field of drug discovery, drawing from his experience at Google and involvement with the “attention is all you need” paper.
- Doronichev emphasized AI’s growing impact on drug discovery, a traditionally complex and costly process, and highlighted Bioptic’s use of AI to accelerate this process, making it more efficient and cost-effective.
- The drug discovery process involves multiple steps, including understanding biological mechanisms, identifying proteins, designing or discovering molecules, and clinical trials for FDA approval, with AI playing a key role in optimizing molecule design through advanced computational methods.
- The pharmaceutical industry is a $4 trillion sector, with $600 billion dedicated to pharmaceuticals and $65 billion to drug discovery, and AI’s role in this market is projected to grow faster than the broader pharma market.
- Despite AI’s potential, the drug discovery process remains expensive and time-consuming, often requiring 10 years and upwards of $1 billion to bring a single drug to market, with clinical trials being the most costly phase.
- Doronichev acknowledged that AI’s role in drug discovery is limited to accelerating the chemistry phase, but argued that improving this stage can still save billions of dollars and create substantial long-term savings for the industry.
- The risks involved in drug discovery include a declining probability of success at each stage, with only about 30% of drugs progressing from preclinical to clinical trials, and the financial stakes are high, with some estimates placing the cost of developing a drug at $1.5 billion to $4 billion.
- Doronichev compared the tech industry’s Moore’s Law to the pharmaceutical sector’s “Roe’s Law,” highlighting the urgent need for AI to help reverse inefficiencies in drug discovery and R&D processes.
- In his conclusion, Doronichev emphasized AI’s transformative potential in drug discovery, particularly in the chemistry phase, and expressed optimism that AI platforms like Bioptic will revolutionize the drug discovery process, leading to faster and more efficient development of new drugs.
- Doronichev also discussed the challenges and advancements in AI-driven drug discovery, including poor benchmarking, lack of discipline in machine learning practices, and improper validation, which can result in AI-generated molecules failing in intellectual property hearings.
- The overlap of training and benchmarking data in machine learning (ML) models can lead to inaccurate results and slow progress in drug development, with the synthesis and testing of molecules still taking considerable time.
- Despite these challenges, AI has the potential to revolutionize drug discovery, particularly in decoding biology as a language, with large language models (LLMs) helping to unlock new insights into proteins and their functions.
- The integration of AI with traditional tools like physics-based simulations could create billion-dollar companies by improving drug discovery processes, with companies like Bioptic at the forefront of this transformation.
- AI-driven startups could evolve to become vertically integrated drug discovery companies, with companies like Google’s spin-off, Isomorphic Labs, serving as an example of what the future of AI-first pharmaceutical companies might look like.
- Large pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer may struggle to keep up with this evolution due to the required expertise in data, talent, and compute power being increasingly found in tech companies rather than traditional pharma.
- The selection of the right AI platform in drug discovery is a challenge, with many companies claiming similar capabilities, making it difficult for startups to choose the best fit.
- Partnerships between AI experts and biotech companies are crucial in de-risking investments and accelerating the development of AI-driven solutions, with a $175 million deal in royalties and milestones over 10 targets serving as an example.
- While AI is revolutionizing early stages of drug discovery, its impact on clinical trials is still limited due to the challenges of obtaining human-specific data, although emerging technologies like digital twins may hold promise for future clinical trials.
- Open research and AI platforms offered by companies like Nvidia are providing biotech firms with access to AI models for different stages of drug discovery, but proprietary models will become more important as competition intensifies in the AI drug discovery field.
- Proprietary systems that can fine-tune AI models for specific drug discovery targets will be key differentiators in the industry, offering biotech firms a competitive edge.
Dr. Edward Zuckerberg: Technology in Dentistry
- Dr. Zuckerberg’s career in dentistry showcases the transformative power of early technology adoption, from using an Atari 800 for online banking in the 1980s to pioneering innovations in dental care, including intraoral cameras, digital X-rays, and custom Electronic Health Records.
- Dr. Zuckerberg, Chief Dental Office of Viome, emphasizes the growing evidence linking periodontal disease to systemic conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and dementia, highlighting the importance of oral health in overall well-being.
- Dr. Zuckerberg has made significant contributions to dental technology startups and demonstrated thought leadership through articles and consultations, influencing the management of dental care and the future of dental practice innovation.
- Dr. Zuckerberg’s interest in technology began in the 1980s, and he was an early adopter of Electronic Medical Records (EMR), which he integrated into his practice to improve patient care and operational efficiency.
- Throughout his career, Dr. Zuckerberg has adopted various technologies, including intraoral cameras, lasers, digital X-rays, and Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) technologies, to enhance patient care and reduce wait times.
- Dr. Zuckerberg developed a custom Electronic Health Record (EHR) system in 2004 to improve patient data management and tracking, and he has shared his expertise through writing and thought leadership, including articles for Dentaltown and speaking engagements at dental conferences.
- Dr. Zuckerberg has been committed to helping dental technology startups thrive for over 14 years, with his work at companies like Perceptive demonstrating his dedication to integrating technology into dentistry and shaping the field’s future.
- Dr. Zuckerberg’s influence in the dental community has grown through his partnerships, including his work with Howard Farran, founder of Dentaltown, and his use of Facebook’s tools to expand the platform’s reach.
- Dr. Zuckerberg’s commitment to innovation and technology has solidified his reputation as a key influencer in the dental industry, and his contributions have improved patient care, operational efficiency, and the future of dental practice innovation.
