Taiho Ventures

Anavo Therapeutics is the first company to systematically drug phosphatases, a rich target space previously considered undruggable for decades. We have attracted world-leading scientific expertise in phosphatase-driven disease biology and drug discovery to unlock the full potential of phosphatase-targeted allosteric modulators. In oncology, Anavo is developing multiple first-in-class therapeutic programs and will build on partnerships around its platform to establish a rich pipeline across several indications

Cellvie develops cell-derived medicines, leveraging the therapeutic potential of mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell. Mitochondria are at the heart of complex life's origin. Likely a bacterium at the time, the would-be-organelle merged with a simple organism, entering into a symbiotic relationship: The mitochondria began supplying the energy for elaborate cellular functions to evolve, while the organism provided the mitochondria with an environment to thrive. Today, mitochondria are found in all human cells, except for red blood cells. They take on a pivotal role in cellular fate, as they produce most of the energy (ATP) and are involved in a large number of cellular and metabolic processes. The density of the organelles is particularly high in cells requiring a lot of cellular energy - e.g. cardiomyocytes or brain cells. Mitochondria function, and hence energy supply to the cell, may be impaired due to acute insults (e.g. ischemia) or genetic disorders (e.g. LOHN). Researchers at Harvard University developed an approach for mitochondria augmentation and replacement to ameliorate the damages from ischemia-reperfusion injury. Ischemia is a lack of blood flow leading to an undersupply of oxygen and an impairment of mitochondria function. Reperfusion describes the re-introduction of blood flow, inducing an oversupply of oxygen. Both, ischemia and reperfusion, damage cells, with the mitochondria dysfunction being at the heart of the injury. The cascade of events, from ischemia to reperfusion, will eventually lead to cell death. The most prominent acute conditions associated with ischemia-reperfusion injury are heart attacks. At Cellvie, we are developing a means to transplant viable mitochondria into the compromised cells, to interrupt the said cascade of events, re-enabling the cells to turn oxygen into energy via the mitochondria.

Dren Bio is a biotechnology company with a portfolio of attractive projects focused on powerful protein engineering technologies for the depletion of cells, protein aggregates, and other disease-causing agents. It is a holding company business model aimed at creating value with multiple projects as stand-alone assets.

Transition Bio provides condensate technology for drug discovery and diagnostics. The company focuses on the discovery, analysis, and modulation of biological condensates, propelled by a differentiated technological capability that generates expansive drug development opportunities in a hypothesis-free manner.

MAKUKU is a retail platform for mother-infant domestic products that merges platform features, varied channels, and brands. Through its APP, WeChat-based online mall, Tmall, JD, and offline locations, MAKUKU provides clients with mother-infant supplies, formula milk, supplementary meals, children's clothes, personal care products, cotton goods, and other products in a variety of disciplines.

Parthenon Therapeutics is inventing a novel class of anti-cancer therapies that reprogram the tumor microenvironment (TME). The interplay between cancer cells and their surrounding microenvironment is relevant in drug development as manycancers use the TME to build barriers that shield immune system attack. One approach, PRTH-101, breaks these barriers to overcome recalcitrant cancers. Based on research, the company is designing a portfolio of drug candidates to treat the right patients at the right time.

Axial Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company harnessing the gut-brain axis to develop novel Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutics to improve the quality of life for people with CNS diseases and disorders.

Anavo Therapeutics is the first company to systematically drug phosphatases, a rich target space previously considered undruggable for decades. We have attracted world-leading scientific expertise in phosphatase-driven disease biology and drug discovery to unlock the full potential of phosphatase-targeted allosteric modulators. In oncology, Anavo is developing multiple first-in-class therapeutic programs and will build on partnerships around its platform to establish a rich pipeline across several indications

Orna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to designing and delivering a new class of fully engineered circular RNA (oRNA) therapeutics with the potential to change the way they treat disease. The company's proprietary platform combines novel technology to create oRNAs that drive protein expression with validated and unique delivery solutions. Orna Therapeutics was established in 2019 by Alex Wesselhoeft and Raffaella Squilloni in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Werewolf Therapeutics is an innovative biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of therapeutics engineered to stimulate the body’s immune system for the treatment of cancer.

Theolytics is a clinical stage biotechnology company harnessing viruses to combat disease. A step-change in the adenoviral therapy field, our phenotypic screening Platform enables the discovery and development of efficacious, targeted candidates suitable for intravenous delivery and optimised for a chosen patient population. In addition to advancing an internal Pipeline of programs spanning both solid and liquid tumours, we are establishing select strategic partnerships to expand and accelerate pipeline development.

Dren Bio is a biotechnology company with a portfolio of attractive projects focused on powerful protein engineering technologies for the depletion of cells, protein aggregates, and other disease-causing agents. It is a holding company business model aimed at creating value with multiple projects as stand-alone assets.

Pact Pharma is a developer of personalized adoptive T cell therapies designed for the eradication of solid tumors.The company's therapies help in the identification of neo-epitopes that serve as private mutations for each patient's cancer as well as creates an opportunity to engineer autologous T cells that target and kill tumors expressing these neo-antigens, enabling physicians to recognize and remove each patient's cancer cells.

Werewolf Therapeutics is an innovative biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of therapeutics engineered to stimulate the body’s immune system for the treatment of cancer.

ORIC Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving patients’ lives by Overcoming Resistance In Cancer. ORIC’s lead product candidate, ORIC-101, is a potent and selective small molecule antagonist of the glucocorticoid receptor, which has been linked to resistance to multiple classes of cancer therapeutics across a variety of solid tumors. ORIC’s second product candidate, ORIC-533, is an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of CD73, a key node in the adenosine pathway believed to play a central role in resistance to chemotherapy- and immunotherapy-based treatment regimens. Beyond these two product candidates, ORIC is also developing multiple precision medicines targeting other hallmark cancer resistance mechanisms. ORIC’s scientific founders, Charles Sawyers, MD, and Scott Lowe, Ph.D., have long records of discovering novel targets in cancer that have led to innovative treatments.

Breakpoint Therapeutics is a company that discover and develop new anti-cancer drugs. By targeting the DNA damage response (“DDR”) in cancer cells, Breakpoint Therapeutics aims to advance to clinical development first-in-class oncology drugs that interfere with DNA repair and replication stress tolerance pathways. Their mission is to develop drugs that succeed and complement PARP inhibitors and facilitate the cure of therapy resistant cancers.

Axial Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company harnessing the gut-brain axis to develop novel Central Nervous System (CNS) Therapeutics to improve the quality of life for people with CNS diseases and disorders.

Targeting pathways that modify RNA to deliver novel cancer therapeutics.

Cullinan Pearl develops an orally available tyrosine kinase inhibitor to target Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor exon 20 mutations. Cullinan Pearl is a subsidiary of Cullinan Oncology.

NextCure is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing next generation immuno-oncology-based drugs. The Company is applying its proprietary platforms and know-how to identify novel and biologically relevant targets and develop first-in-class immunotherapy products.

Harpoon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing a novel class of T cell engagers that harness the power of the body’s immune system to treat patients suffering from cancer and other diseases. T cell engagers are engineered proteins that direct a patient’s own T cells to kill target cells that express specific proteins, or antigens, carried by the target cells. Using its proprietary Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC), platform, Harpoon is developing a pipeline of novel T cell engagers, or TriTACs, initially focused on the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Harpoon's first drug candidate, HPN424, is currently in Phase 1 clinical trial as a treatment for prostate cancer.

ORIC Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving patients’ lives by Overcoming Resistance In Cancer. ORIC’s lead product candidate, ORIC-101, is a potent and selective small molecule antagonist of the glucocorticoid receptor, which has been linked to resistance to multiple classes of cancer therapeutics across a variety of solid tumors. ORIC’s second product candidate, ORIC-533, is an orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of CD73, a key node in the adenosine pathway believed to play a central role in resistance to chemotherapy- and immunotherapy-based treatment regimens. Beyond these two product candidates, ORIC is also developing multiple precision medicines targeting other hallmark cancer resistance mechanisms. ORIC’s scientific founders, Charles Sawyers, MD, and Scott Lowe, Ph.D., have long records of discovering novel targets in cancer that have led to innovative treatments.

Targeting pathways that modify RNA to deliver novel cancer therapeutics.

Arcus Biosciences is an oncology-focused clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of cancer. It aims to create new cancer therapeutics through the utilization of emerging insights in immunology. The company has four molecules in clinical development: Etrumadenant (AB928), the first dual A2a/A2b adenosine receptor antagonist to enter the clinic, is being evaluated in multiple Phase 2 and 1b studies across different indications, including prostate, colorectal, non-small cell lung, pancreatic and triple-negative breast cancers. AB680, the first small-molecule CD73 inhibitor to enter the clinic, is in Phase 1/1b development for first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer in combination with zimberelimab and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. Domvanalimab (AB154), an anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody and new potential immuno-oncology backbone therapy, is in a three-arm randomized Phase 2 study for first-line treatment of PD-L1-high metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) evaluating zimberelimab monotherapy, domvanalimab with zimberelimab and domvanalimab plus AB928 with zimberelimab. AB308, an anti-TIGIT antibody that is FcR enabled, is advancing into clinical development to investigate additional indications, with a focus on hematological malignancies. Zimberelimab (AB122), Arcus’s anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, was in-licensed to enable the development of Arcus’s combination regimens and is being evaluated in various combinations across the portfolio. Arcus was formed in 2015 in Hayward, California by Terry Rosen and Juan Jaen.

Harpoon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage immunotherapy company developing a novel class of T cell engagers that harness the power of the body’s immune system to treat patients suffering from cancer and other diseases. T cell engagers are engineered proteins that direct a patient’s own T cells to kill target cells that express specific proteins, or antigens, carried by the target cells. Using its proprietary Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC), platform, Harpoon is developing a pipeline of novel T cell engagers, or TriTACs, initially focused on the treatment of solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. Harpoon's first drug candidate, HPN424, is currently in Phase 1 clinical trial as a treatment for prostate cancer.

Arcus Biosciences is an oncology-focused clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapies for the treatment of cancer. It aims to create new cancer therapeutics through the utilization of emerging insights in immunology. The company has four molecules in clinical development: Etrumadenant (AB928), the first dual A2a/A2b adenosine receptor antagonist to enter the clinic, is being evaluated in multiple Phase 2 and 1b studies across different indications, including prostate, colorectal, non-small cell lung, pancreatic and triple-negative breast cancers. AB680, the first small-molecule CD73 inhibitor to enter the clinic, is in Phase 1/1b development for first-line treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer in combination with zimberelimab and gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel. Domvanalimab (AB154), an anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody and new potential immuno-oncology backbone therapy, is in a three-arm randomized Phase 2 study for first-line treatment of PD-L1-high metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) evaluating zimberelimab monotherapy, domvanalimab with zimberelimab and domvanalimab plus AB928 with zimberelimab. AB308, an anti-TIGIT antibody that is FcR enabled, is advancing into clinical development to investigate additional indications, with a focus on hematological malignancies. Zimberelimab (AB122), Arcus’s anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, was in-licensed to enable the development of Arcus’s combination regimens and is being evaluated in various combinations across the portfolio. Arcus was formed in 2015 in Hayward, California by Terry Rosen and Juan Jaen.