Accipiter Biosciences has emerged from stealth with $12.7 million in seed funding to advance a new class of de novo multifunctional protein therapeutics designed to treat complex diseases. The seed round was co-led by Takeda and Flying Fish Partners, with participation from Columbus Venture Partners, Cercano Capital, Washington Research Foundation, Alexandria Investments, Pack Ventures, and Argonautic Ventures.
The company is based in Seattle and focuses on creating biologic therapies that are built entirely from scratch, rather than modifying proteins that occur naturally. Accipiter Biosciences utilizes a computational technology platform, combined with high-throughput experimentation, to design proteins that can activate multiple biological pathways simultaneously. These biologics are intended to replace certain drug combinations by combining numerous therapeutic mechanisms into a single therapeutic molecule. The platform also enables rapid iteration, with design-to-lab timelines of under two months.
Funds from the seed financing will be used to expand the company’s internal pipeline in immunology and oncology, advance up to two programs toward pre-IND status, and continue building out its proprietary computational capabilities. The founding team includes leaders with extensive backgrounds in de novo protein design from institutions and organizations, including Seagen, Merck, Neoleukin Therapeutics, and the University of Washington’s Institute for Protein Design. They previously contributed to the development of the first fully de novo protein therapeutic to reach clinical trials.
The company’s leadership team comprises co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Bick, PhD; co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Javier Castellanos, PhD; co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer Hector Rincon, PhD; and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer William Canestaro, PhD.
Accipiter Biosciences has also entered into strategic research collaborations with Pfizer and Kite Pharma, a Gilead company. Under its agreement with Pfizer, the company is eligible for an upfront payment, as well as development and commercial milestones totaling more than $330 million, and royalties. The collaboration focuses on discovering and designing new biologics across multiple targets. The agreement with Kite Pharma establishes a multitarget partnership for generating molecules suited for use in cell therapies, with the potential for milestone payments and royalties tied to development success and commercial outcomes.
The company states that its approach is intended to deliver more precise and effective treatments for complex diseases that often require multi-pathway intervention. The seed financing and strategic partnerships are expected to accelerate the advancement of its platform and therapeutic programs toward clinical evaluation.
KEY QUOTES:
“Some of the most challenging diseases of our time are complex in nature and require combination therapies that target multiple pathways. However, drug combinations, in particular biologic combinations, have a number of pitfalls. They often carry high development costs, are time-consuming and expensive to evaluate in clinical trials and can increase the risk of side effects. Further, if individual drugs move through the body differently, they may never work together as intended in the right place at the same time. With our unique post-evolutionary biologics technology, which allows us to design proteins that integrate multiple mechanisms into one single therapeutic, we aim to replace drug combinations by delivering more effective, convenient and precise treatments for patients.”
Matthew Bick, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer
“We’ve reached the point where computation isn’t just speeding up biology, it’s expanding what’s biologically possible. Accipiter Bio is building multifunctional biologics that act through multiple mechanisms, enabling therapeutic effects that conventional protein engineering can’t achieve. It’s a real step forward in how AI is reshaping drug design from the ground up. We’re excited to support the Accipiter Bio team as they pioneer a new generation of tunable biologics.”
Heather Gorham, Principal at Flying Fish Partners and Accipiter Board Member
“Accipiter’s platform technology for de novo protein design has the potential to unlock new classes of biologics. With Accipiter’s platform technology and collaboration, Pfizer aims to solve complex therapeutic problems with biologics that may have previously been unattainable. We are encouraged by this technology and look forward to continuing our collaboration with Accipiter and delivering value to patients.”
Jeffrey Settleman, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer, Pfizer Oncology R&D
