Passkey Therapeutics, a pioneer of Synergistic Multifunctional Therapeutics (SMThs), announced that it has emerged from stealth with $20 million in seed funding led by Breakout Ventures along with founding investors Innovation Endeavors and Bison Ventures. And additional participants include Wireframe Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and GRIDS Capital.
The funding will support Passkey’s development of SMThs (pronounced as “smiths”) — a new class of single-drug therapies designed to modulate rare combinations of proteins that work together — and Locksmith, the company’s proprietary computational and experimental platform for SMTh discovery.
Passkey’s Locksmith platform uses advanced computational and experimental tools to analyze extensive human genetic datasets and identify previously undiscovered combinations of proteins — termed “Multilogs” — that work in concert. And the proteins in these groups often have limited therapeutic impact when targeted individually but reveal powerful potential when addressed together.
Passkey’s approach offers a new way to address many conditions, such as cancer, autoimmune and neurodegenerative disorders, and metabolic diseases. And the company is progressing its internal pipeline with plans to internally develop SMThs in two distinct therapeutic areas through clinical trials, while also exploring potential partnerships in additional areas.
Passkey was launched by a team of seasoned experts, each bringing complementary strengths to advance the company’s mission. Bruce Beutel, Ph.D., has decades of experience in pharmaceutical and biotech R&D, business development, and company-building. Soumya Ray, Ph.D., and Will Chen, Ph.D., leverage their deep expertise in computational biology, chemistry, and genetics to co-lead the development of the Locksmith platform.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our platform represents a paradigm shift in drug discovery. While conventional drug development has largely centered around single-protein targets, many diseases, including the most common ones, have complex underlying biology. Addressing these complex diseases demands a different approach – one that embraces and leverages that biological complexity. By identifying rare combinations of proteins that work together, we can open the door to a completely new target landscape and create a new class of therapies for patients with a wide variety of conditions.”
“With Locksmith, we have the speed and precision to achieve this, positioning Passkey at the forefront of developing multifunctional medicines that modulate multiple proteins simultaneously.”
“Passkey is engineering Synergistic Multifunctional Therapeutics precisely tailored to multiple distinct proteins. These therapies could take the form of small molecules or biologics, such as antibodies, depending on the biology of the particular disease. By advancing beyond single-protein targets with our innovative approach, we believe we can make a significant difference for patients.”
-Bruce Beutel, CEO of Passkey
“Recent advances, such as bispecific antibodies, have made progress in targeting multiple proteins, but no one has had a broad ability to pinpoint the optimal combinations for simultaneous treatment — until now. We are proud to support Passkey’s approach to therapeutic discovery and design, which holds immense promise for tackling the complexities of multifactorial diseases with greater efficacy.”
-Dana Watt, Ph.D., a Partner with Breakout Ventures
“Passkey is making a major contribution to our ability to leverage the rapidly increasing availability of human genetic data to finally be able to address some of the most challenging diseases — those that are too complex to solve with a single-target approach. With a focused early pipeline and a clear strategic vision, we believe Passkey is well-positioned to make significant strides in using the underlying complexity of disease to our advantage, and we are excited to support their efforts.”
-Joel Dudley, Ph.D., a Partner with Innovation Endeavors
