BPGbio is a leading biology-first AI-powered clinical-stage biopharma focused on mitochondrial biology and protein homeostasis. Pulse 2.0 interviewed BPGbio SVP of Business Development John Beeler, PhD.
John Beeler’s Background
What is your background? Beeler said:
“I’m a scientist by training, having received a PhD in Pharmacology, and I’ve spent roughly two decades in business development for biotechnology companies, focusing on building strategic partnerships and advancing innovative technologies and therapies. Before joining BPGbio, I was the Business Development Search & Evaluation Lead at Bristol-Myers Squibb, a pivotal role in sourcing and evaluating licensing opportunities and strategic partnerships. Before that, I worked in leadership roles at Inivata, bioMerieux, and GSK, gaining extensive experience in advancing innovative biomedical solutions to improve patient outcomes.”
“As the Senior Vice President of Business Development at BPGbio, I lead the company’s business development team in identifying and securing licensing and commercial partnership opportunities for our NAi Interrogative Biology platform and our extensive pipeline of AI-developed therapeutic candidates and diagnostics. My responsibilities include building impactful collaborations, advancing our platform partnerships, and driving the company’s commercial growth. I also work closely with internal teams to align strategic goals with external opportunities, ensuring our breakthroughs reach their full potential in transforming patient care.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Beeler reflected:
“I have always been impressed by BPGbio for its robust industry-leading pipeline and its potential to revolutionize the field of drug discovery and development. My favorite part of working for BPGbio so far is hearing stories like Chase Malackowski’s, where our drug made a difference in saving a patient’s life, pediatric or not. Those stories are a testament to the quality of the team here and the reason why I am passionate about my work every day.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Beeler explained:
“At BPGbio, we have one platform – NAi, two key areas of biology – mitochondria and proteostasis – that can be applied across multiple disease areas including Oncology, Neurology and Rare Diseases.”
“Our lead therapeutic candidate, BPM31510, has shown in lab studies to induce a hallmark shift in metabolic pathways by modulating mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, which drives cancer cell apoptosis. We are conducting an active phase 2b trial on BPM31510 for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) and have finished a phase 2a study of the compound on pancreatic cancer.”
“Beyond its applications in oncology, we are also planning a phase 3 trial for a pediatric ultra-rare disease called Primary CoQ10 Deficiency, which is a mitochondrial disease that impacts about 2,000 children in the US alone. We are also exploring topical formulations as potential treatments for the rare disease called epidermolysis bullosa (EB). Importantly, BPM31510 has been granted multiple designations by the FDA, including Orphan Drug and Rare Pediatric Disease designations, which highlight its potential for high-impact patient outcomes.”
“The other program that has attracted lots of interest from pharma companies is our first-in-class E2-based targeted protein degradation (TPD) program. Unlike most TPD programs that use an E3-based approach, our E2-based TPD program has the potential to have increased efficacy and lower risk of drug resistance. The BPGbio team is drugging the long-considered undruggable proteome with this program.”
“Of course, these programs wouldn’t be possible without NAi, BPGbio’s AI-driven Interrogative Biology platform that could significantly improve the drug discovery/development process. NAi interrogates biological data from BPGbio’s proprietary biobank with AI to uncover novel disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets. NAi has produced a strong pipeline for BPGbio and has sustained successful clinical trials without failure for the company since its launch.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Beeler affirmed:
“Biotech companies, AI-powered or not, are here to create new treatments for diseases, and that’s our goal. The biggest challenge in bringing new therapies to market is the time it takes, 9 years on average, with a low probability of success, approximately 10-20% of drug development programs succeeding in reaching the market.”
“That said, I think BPGbio’s biggest differentiator from other AI biotech is our ability to more accurately identify the biological drivers of disease, which will improve the probability of success in bringing new drugs to patients in need. This is reflected in the depth and robustness of our pipeline. With two phase 2 trials on aggressive solid tumors and one phase 3 ready, BPGbio is leading the AI biotech field in putting an AI-developed drug into the market.”
“This leading position was enabled by the NAi platform, which takes a biology-first approach and uses causal AI to interrogate the data (instead of generative AI).”
Future Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Beeler pointed out:
“We are focused on getting our drug candidates into the market through licensing and partnerships, and we are also looking at a potential IPO in the next few years.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Beeler concluded:
“I want to highlight the importance of collaboration in our work. At BPGbio, we believe that advancing science requires technological innovation and strong partnerships with academic institutions, industry peers, and patient advocacy groups. These collaborations are critical to our mission of transforming the future of medicine and improving patient outcomes.”
