In 1965, Gordon Moore predicted the number of transistors in a computer chip would double every year (later revised to every two years) and the cost to produce those transistors would simultaneously be reduced by half. For 60 years, Moore’s law has held true resulting in unprecedented advancement in modern computing that has powered everything from Apollo I to ChatGPT. By contrast, the cost of drug development has trended upward, exceeding $1 billion per therapy on average, and taking 12-15 years to come to market.
The industry has been long overdue for a major shift, and we believe we have finally entered a new era. This new era is testament to our thesis that industry transforming companies are built at the collision of healthcare and technology.
Today, we are thrilled to announce our investment in Outpace Bio’s Series B raise.
Outpace is developing cell therapies using novel AI-powered protein design to program immune cells for improved function inside patients battling solid tumors. Outpace’s lead program, OPB-101, is a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell enhanced by Outpace’s proprietary technologies for patients with advanced platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer. We believe this is significant as all six of the current approved CAR T therapies have shown the ability to drive durable curative responses, however they only address a relatively small set of blood-based tumors. Approximately 90% of existing cancer burden is due to solid tumors where existing cell therapies have fallen short due to the multiple mechanisms of dysfunction at play. The team is on track for IND clearance and first dosing in 2025.
As experts in protein simulation and one of the founding members of OpenFold, Outpace has developed a powerful plug-and-play technology platform to simultaneously address the multiple mechanisms standing in the way of cures for cell therapies in solid tumors with unprecedented speed & success rates, while reducing the time to clinic and development cost of potentially lifesaving therapeutics. The Outpace Bio team brings together expert scientists, engineers, coders & cell therapy developers who are reimagining how cells function and are poised to catapult the industry into an era of better, faster, and cheaper drug discovery.
We are ready to get to work to push the frontier alongside Outpace as they use novel approaches to deliver treatments for patients with solid tumors and build a brilliant tomorrow!
Black Opal Ventures continues to invest in companies using technology to improve diagnostics, delivery of care, and drug discovery. Check our predictions for “the future of healthcare”, and more recently, our predictions for 2024.
This article was authored by Eileen Tanghal, Karthik Ramasubramanian, and Dr. Tara Bishop.
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