puretech
amid brexit fallout, u. k. - listed puretech debuts speech diagnosis firm
i see puretech are hiring for some positions if that’s of any interest to you .
puretech ventures' david steinberg talks about building a successful partnership with a vc firm .
former moderna and millennium exec joseph bolen has returned as the cso of puretech health .
puretech digital is a full - services digital agency, based in mumbai, india .
puretech health’s shares dipped slightly to a low of 115. 5p following the results .
puretech’s seasoned management team and accomplished board of directors, along with an advisory network of more than 70 world - renowned collaborators, drive the puretech health innovation and development engine .
drugs and devices would certainly be up the follica alley. also puretech ventures is now puretechhealth .
puretech has 12 pipeline programs and an additional three active sourcing initiatives that could get to that stage. each of the programs is structured as an independent corporate entity, in which puretech usually has majority ownership .
puretech health is a bio pharma company and pushes the boundaries of medicine and changing and converging healthcare ecosystem .
puretech affiliate vedanta biosciences announced a partnership to create immune - boosting cancer therapies that capitalize on the gut microbiome .
now, bolen is back as the cso of puretech health, a venture firm that has since morphed a bit over the years into a publicly listed therapeutic discovery and development company. he first joined puretech late last year .
i do hope there is a secret race on to get the best possible product to market as soon as possible. follica and puretech are worth keeping an eye on this month with the puretech’s ipo on the london stock exchange .
robert langer, scd, is a co - founder and non - executive director at puretech health and sits on puretech health’s scientific advisory board and the boards of puretech health and entrega. dr. langer is known for his groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of polymer chemistry, controlled drug delivery, and tissue engineering. he is... more
puretech has funding, but they are a vc firm. their main goal is to make a great monetary return. you don’t hedge your bets by dumping money into one group over and over. if follica was impressing the hell out of puretech, some cash would be forthcoming. if follica is getting by but the results are anything less than stellar than who should puretech give money to? maybe other investments (including new ones) to hedge their bets. otherwise follica could potentially take down puretech with them. incidentally puretech is not some incredibly huge fund, they are taking chances on very high risk / high reward efforts .
a puretech startup is developing an immune - responsive hydrogel that releases a corticosteroid into arthritic joints based on their level of inflammation .
novartis has offloaded two midphase mtorc1 inhibitors to puretech health in return for an equity stake and a source of future milestones and royalties .
lol, good luck. if karuna is like any other puretech start - up, you won’t get any meaningful information for several years .
puretech health ceo daphne zohar to present at the wall street journal health forum on may 22, 2018 in washington, d. c .
akili is being incubated at puretech ventures, a back bay firm that seeds new life sciences start - ups, and its acting chief executive is puretech founder daphne zohar. but akili is pretty different from the typical puretech project: the start - up has brought on board veterans of lucas digital arts and electronic arts who have worked on games like
star wars: the force unleashed
and
medal of honor .
how long it will take until we hear a word from follica? or puretech stating that it will give their share… frustrating to wait. worrying…
viehbacher joins the firm on the heels of a $ 107 million funding round, stepping in as puretech advances a growing stable of projects toward commercialization .
the technology to back such an investigation is ripe, explained alexis kopikis, a co - founder of the sync project and a partner at puretech .
there, he will lead the work on puretech’s pipeline, which focuses on immune, nervous and gastrointestinal systems and includes more than 20 ongoing clinical trials. puretech has 5 candidates that are in proof - of - concept studies, as well as multiple pivotal data readouts in the next couple of years .
puretech consulted with lilly veteran paul prior to licensing the technology from mclean, zohar says. “his background is in the drug side, but he was intrigued
karuna has two novel programs in development for the treatment of schizophrenia, harrigan says. karuna has been incubating at the boston firm puretech ventures, whose partner eric elenko had been in charge of day - to - day operations before harrigan took over those duties. karuna’s founding team also includes puretech associate andrew miller .
puretech and a few individual investors are seeding the company with an $ 800, 000 investment, says puretech managing partner daphne zohar. the company’s founding ceo is nessan bermingham, a biology ph. d. and managing partner of boston - based bio equity capital, which is not an investor in the seed round .
“we’ve had to be careful about how we deliver the news because there’s all these huge responses, ” says follica co - founder and puretech principal bernat olle .
all the same, puretech still hasn’t said how that money will be allocated so we should hear something, good or bad, this year i would guess .
do you realize who bob langer at puretech is? his lab has brought some really long shot therapies to patients with brain tumors, developmental defects, spinal damage, etc. etc. he’s not some close minded idiot who doesn’t care about therapy and doesn’t care about making money. and he and rest of the puretech team invested 11 million dollars in follica – of course they were excited about the company! do you think puretech would feel great if they just lost 11 million dollars ?
… “we’ve had to be careful about how we deliver the news because there’s all these huge responses, ” says follica co - founder and puretech principal bernat olle .
well, it’s not news and it’s certainly not going to assuage the doubters but it’s a response at least. puretech addressed some follica queries on their twitter feed .
hope you’re right! puretech are an odd company…they do advertise themselves as an rnd company now whereas before they were an odd hybrid of vc and kind of rnd .
i would’ve thought that, especially after puretech got that cash injection, we’ll hear something follica related this year. good or bad, who knows but hopefully good !
that means tal—a small company housed within the boston offices of puretech and still without a full - time ceo—now has the juice to run a sizeable study without bringing in an institutional investor and diluting ownership stakes. between seed funding tal has raised from puretech and unnamed private angel investors, and the outside dollars going towards the nimh trial—as well as a small, separate biomarker study—the company has gotten access to about $ 6 million in funding, according to chief operating officer and puretech principal andrew miller .
stephen muniz, jd, is the chief operating officer and a member of puretech health’s board of directors. prior to joining puretech health, mr. muniz was a partner in the corporate department of locke lord llp, where he practiced law for 10 years. mr. muniz’s practice at locke lord llp focused... more
again, i wouldn’t be shocked that follica haven’t been mentioned in relation the puretech’s new funding rounds as no project has been specifically mentioned by the company as receiving funds .
“we are tremendously excited to bring joe’s visionary leadership and drug development expertise to puretech, ” said daphne zohar, chief executive officer of puretech health. “joe is a seasoned industry expert who brings the ideal balance of rigor and creativity to the role of cso, and shares our vision for identifying and nurturing innovation that can potentially redefine healthcare. ”
hey, i get the frustration but personally speaking, it does me no good. puretech haven’t said at all how the money is to be allocated. the reason that people thought the worst is that in articles, follica wasn’t mentioned but again, the facts are puretech got a big injection of money with potentially more to come. that’s it .
could be… think there was a neal walker link to allergan too, no? in any event, i guess we’re all kind of waiting to see what happens to that puretech money and where it might go. there was a lot of unwarranted negativity around that for some reason but follica were mentioned in a press release put out by puretech themselves ;
raju kucherlapati, phd, is an independent non - executive director at puretech health and sits on puretech health’s scientific advisory board. he was a founder and formerly a board member of abgenix (acquired by amgen), and millennium pharmaceuticals (acquired by takeda), and is currently the paul c. cabot professor of genetics and... more
ps. if you are not interested in puretech health anymore, you can use our free platform to see my list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential .
puretech health plc is launching a new branch of inquiry into the lymphatic system following discoveries that the network extends into the brain and could be used to deliver immunotherapies directly to tissues .
“puretech has been instrumental in making the ey india careers page of facebook as one of the few most popular pages amongst other ey country pages. we value the inputs that we receive from time to time w. r. t improving the page and truly appreciate the creative sensibilities of the team. with our continued association, we wish to see puretech as a partner in true sense who supports the projects just the way we own it as a prime contributor. heartfelt thanks for the puretech team for all the support and good work. ”
daphne zohar is the founder and chief executive officer of puretech health (prtc. l) and a member of the board of directors. puretech health is an advanced, clinical - stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines targeting serious diseases that result from dysfunctions in the nervous, immune, and gastrointestinal systems (brain - immune - gut or the “big”... more
in addition to zohar, puretech founders and managing directors include mit professor and biotech entrepreneur robert langer and john lamattina, the former head of r & d for pfizer ($ pfe) .
because people have very personal tastes in music, a large data set is all the more important, said ketki karanam, co - founder of the sync project and an associate at puretech .
oh, that’s interesting. he must have been scrubbed from that page relatively recently. the follica website isn’t great for updates to be honest. you have better luck with the puretech health website ;
to get one perspective, karl stark spoke recently with david steinberg, a partner at puretech ventures regarding the current state of venture capital and how entrepreneurs should approach a partnership with venture capital funds .
months after a bitter exit from the top spot at sanofi ($ sny), christopher viehbacher is back out in public, joining boston startup factory puretech to help steer its portfolio of fledgling companies .
“our association with puretech digital dates back more than 2 years now. their thorough understanding of the business landscape and the lucidity of their presentation ensure that requirements and deliverables are clearly communicated and understood. the timely updates and insightful inputs have always helped in keeping the seo process dynamic in nature. puretech digital has a superior understanding of client requirements and their suggestions are highly customized towards the impending need. ”
so far, akili has four full - time employees, and seed funding from puretech. the screenshot below is from a prototype game that akili is developing, code - named
project: evolution .
“puretech seeks out and licenses academic research from around the world it believes can be used to develop disruptive technologies. it plans to use the proceeds of the ipo to move its most advanced portfolio companies towards commercialization”
puretech is an
institutional founder ,
which means it conceptualizes, incubates and founds companies, and it focuses exclusively in the life sciences arena. puretech builds a company from scratch with its own seed capital and sweat equity, then either collaborates with strategic partners or works with venture capital firms once the business achieves proof of concept and is ready for significant investment to move to the next stage of its growth .
“puretech health is one of the most exciting companies in biotech, advancing truly unique multi - modal solutions to some of today’s most significant healthcare challenges through modulation of the human nervous and immune adaptive systems, ” bolen said in a statement. “our mission at puretech health is to collaborate broadly with biomedical science and technology leaders in order to generate the most exciting ideas and then to transform these concepts into breakthrough medicines. ”
i’m not totally sure what this means, but dr olle is a chemical engineer by trade (i believe), and his doctoral work was on bioreactors (so he’s not a hair scientist or dermatologist, as far as i can tell). he also hasn’t left puretech – he’s still involved there and is with vedanta (another puretech startup) now. i don’t think this necessarily means follica is dead at all .
video - game based treatment designed to help sufferers of adhd could be on the market within two years after passing a key clinical stage in its development, london - listed bio - pharmaceutical company puretech health has announced .
unlike most early - stage life sciences funders, puretech' s take on life sciences entrepreneurship is not dependent on external innovation. instead, the group begins by identifying a problem in healthcare and breaking it down to its core attributes, tapping a wide range of on - hand expertise to spotlight potential solutions. only then does puretech look outside its walls, finding the partners necessary to advance the solution and crafting a company to actualize it .
stephen muniz, jd, is the chief operating officer and a member of puretech health’s board of directors. prior to joining puretech health, mr. muniz was a partner in the corporate department of locke lord llp, where he practiced law for 10 years. mr. muniz’s practice at locke lord llp focused on the representation of life science venture funds as well as their portfolio companies in general corporate matters and in investment and liquidity transactions .
in this new role, dr. bolen will lead the scientific development and advancement of puretech’s pipeline and will work closely with the team and scientific advisory board as the company identifies and pursues new modalities to address significant medical needs .
“joe is a seasoned industry expert who brings the ideal balance of rigor and creativity to the role of cso, and shares our vision for identifying and nurturing innovation that can potentially redefine healthcare, ” said puretech ceo daphne zohar .
celgene president and coo jackie fouse makes a surprising departure, fda' s personalized medicine leader elizabeth mansfield joined grail, former gsk neurosciences head atul pande came on board with puretech, and zomedica tapped industry veteran robert dimarzo as evp .
perhaps the single most notable thing to happen recently was the puretech funding announcement (scroll down this page a bit, it’s linked) and follica was noticeably absent in the list of puretech programmes mentioned. that’s either a good thing or it’s a bad thing. i’m erring on the side of optimism for a change. put it this way, if you had a treatment, would you be screaming from the rafters about a nearby release or would you play the stealth card ?
maybe because he’s needed elsewhere at another puretech venture? or maybe because he wanted to move. not necessarily a bad sign. i’m speculating of course, but he may well hold stock in follica, and maybe his work there in terms of establishing the company is done. like i said, he’s not a hair scientist or dermatologist, he seems to mostly be involved in startup companies these days, and he didn’t leave puretech…. he’s also still listed on follica’s website. urltoken
puretech is a dedicated life sciences r & d house that is structured as a corporation and develops its various research programs around specific, larger themes. it' s agnostic when it comes to technology; the programs are built around these ideas .
robert langer, scd, is a co - founder and non - executive director at puretech health and sits on puretech health’s scientific advisory board and the boards of puretech health and entrega. dr. langer is known for his groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of polymer chemistry, controlled drug delivery, and tissue engineering. he is the david h. koch institute professor at the massachusetts institute of technology (mit) and one of 14 institute professors (the highest honor awarded to a faculty member). dr. langer has written nearly 1, 130 articles and has approximately 800 issued or pending patents worldwide, one of which was cited as the outstanding patent in massachusetts in 1988 and one of 20 outstanding patents in the united states .
could you shed a little bit more light on this bruck – could you be more specific about where and who you were talking to if that’s possible? the money thing doesn’t add up for me in light of puretech’s big grab of dough recently .
“this is to put on record our appreciation and satisfaction towards the services and maintenance services offered by puretech digital for www. bclindia. org. the promptness and professionalism shown by the their team at all stages instances deserves our great. appreciation. ”
puretech systems is a software company that develops and markets pureactiv, its geospatial analytics solution designed to protect critical perimeters and infrastructure. its patented video analytics leverage thermal cameras, radars and other perimeter sensors to detect, geo - locate, classify, and ...
thanks for chiming in here again – always appreciate your comments. what did you make of the relatively recent puretech money grab? the fact is, they haven’t announced what exactly they’re going to do with that money – or specifically what programmes are getting a cash injection .
i look at it this way, puretech have the money to pump into follica – and you might find out something in the new year if they’re to get any of that – but also follica first came to prominence in 2008 with the nbc interview and it’s almost 2015 .
on puretech' s model, zohar concluded ,
we house them into companies and treat them like our pipeline. we don' t want to exit the ones that are doing really well, like a biotech wouldn' t look to sell off things that are attractive .
“astrum relies on puretech digital for its digital marketing expertise. their team is knowledgeable, responsive and committed to supporting our initiatives, making them invaluable partners in our effort to promote brand awareness, drive traffic to our website, and generate new business. they are a very valued partner”
at vedanta, for instance, puretech intends to develop drugs that target pathways involving microbes in the body and the immune system to treat diseases. the venture - creation group has kept quiet about the activities around libra, where the firm has been working with a corporate partner, puretech founder and managing partner daphne zohar told fiercebiotech .
there is a lot of interest in the vc sphere, but more importantly, the pharma industry is tremendously interested in this space ,
she said .
over the last year the level of interest from pharma groups has changed markedly .
yeah, i think – though i don’t know that much about vc and biotech generally speaking – that puretech have an interesting approach to various health problems. obviously some of those problems are more serious than others but gathering the best people in their respective fields is ambitious and to be lauded .
they just mention follica as one of the companies that puretech sponsor. . no mention as if they will grab a portion of that money. . yes, it’s a waiting game indeed, and it sucks cause we may be waiting for nothing since they don’t let us know anything, never .
not quite a venture firm, research institute or startup, puretech is a bit of all three. the mission of the early stage research company just got a little bit easier - - it bumped up its recent fundraising to $ 107 million from the $ 57 million it had raised as of october .
it is an honor to join this very dynamic and powerful group of both minds and personalities ,
viehbacher said in a statement .
puretech' s pipeline of companies is at an exciting inflection point, and i think the talent within the management team and board can achieve great things .
akili, a company launched by puretech ventures, wants the game to provide efficacy and tolerability beyond available treatments, the firm told the wall street journal. and unlike the current crop of stimulants prescribed to treat adhd ,
project evolution
wouldn' t carry the risk of anxiety and trouble sleeping .
“i retained puretech in january of 2010 and have been very pleased with the results including several new, top - tier clients, who would never have found me without puretech' s excellent work, and dthe accompanying increased revenues. i have been particularly pleased by their service and responsiveness. they use an online interface to communicate and are also available by phone. either way, i know if i post something, it will be acknowleged and addressed. frankly, it is one of the best business investments i have made. they are an excellent company, and i highly recommend them without reservation. ”
“time and again, puretech presented clear concepts and added value to the brief. their execution, especially using flash, has been world - class. this is reflected not just in our understanding of their skills and the delivered product, but also in the appreciation that these projects have generated internationally. ”
a good sign that follica is doing great would be an announcement of funding. we already know puretech got money and would like to hear from them that some of it is going to follica, they could just tell something about that, couldn’t they? they don’t need to tell nothing more than that .
dame marjorie scardino is the senior independent director of puretech health’s board of directors. she served as chief executive of the economist for 12 years and then from 1997 through 2012 was the chief executive of pearson plc, the world' s leading education company and the owner of penguin books and... more
most people think of biomedical research as highly controlled, regimented, and painstaking work involving years of lab testing, clinical trials, and data gathering. daphne zohar, the ceo of puretech, acknowledges that developing cures for illness is all of those things, but she also insists that it can be very creative .
for those unfamiliar with the tal story, puretech formed the company in 2011 based on work at mclean hospital in belmont, ma. researchers at mclean had seen in a prior study that the moods of patients with bipolar disorder improved after their brains were imaged in an mri machine. so a team of mclean researchers tried to figure out what caused that effect, and determined it was the brain’s short - term exposure to low - field magnetic stimulation (lfms). they went on to publish a few studies on animals and some patients with bipolar and major depressive disorder, and the results were encouraging enough to catch puretech’s attention .
joi ito is the director of the mit media lab and the chairman of puretech health’s board of directors. he is a leading thinker and writer on innovation, global technology policy, and the role of the internet in transforming society in substantial and positive ways. mr. ito sits on the boards... more
“puretech’s understanding of the content was excellent, considering the size, complexity and scope of the project. the design team went out of their way to explain what customization was possible or even desirable with the cms. ease of navigation has been the biggest boost to the site and to the functioning of the haas center” .
puretech' s companies have gone on to attract hundreds of millions in additional funding from other sources. in addition, its deep - pocketed investors, including invesco perpetual along with strategic investors and endowments, have already committed to putting into as much as $ 50 million of additional financing as co - investors into each program .
probably spot on. although they did hire neal walker on the qt a couple years ago to replace william ju… so who knows what they’re really up to but i’d agree that if we don’t hear anything in the next couple months – especially after the money grab by puretech – my confidence in follica would be fairly diminished .
they have a great team at puretech (including langer) and follica. the best of any around looking at this issue. i for one am pleased a company like this even exists and they certainly do owe anyone anything. i’m thankful they may be on to the first truly viable solution to treating hairloss in men and women .
still, be prepared for a potential lean spell in news. i really do think, what with the recent puretech grab of money, that we’ll see something in the way of solid news this year. could be a while in coming though. the jp morgan conference would’ve been ideal i would’ve thought for some sort of announcement .
“content and search are critical to the digital marketing efforts of hdfc bank. and we have been lucky to have the support of puretech digital in these two areas. they have an excellent team, great work ethics and an exceptional understanding of the online content and search space (which comes from their focus on research and analytics). puretech is highly proactive, constantly feeding us with ideas and suggestions to adapt to the changing digital landscape. their approach not only helps us achieve our targets, but also gives us the confidence to aim for more. it has been a long 8 + years association with them and we cherish working together. looking forward to greater moments! ”
john lamattina, phd, is an independent non - executive director at puretech health and was previously president of pfizer global research and development and senior vice president of pfizer, inc. during his 30 year career at pfizer inc. , dr. lamattina held positions of increasing responsibility for pfizer central research, including vice president of... more
vedanta was founded on the belief that the microbiome represents one of the great frontiers of human health. johnson & johnson innovation and janssen have demonstrated that they share this vision, and we' re excited to be working with them to bring this program forward ,
said david steinberg, interim ceo at vedanta and a partner at puretech ventures .
ben shapiro, md, is a co - founder and non - executive director at puretech health. he was previously executive vice president of research for merck. in this position, he was responsible for all basic and preclinical research activities at merck worldwide. dr. shapiro led the research program that resulted in fda registration of approximately... more
century medicines, today announced the appointment of joseph bolen, ph. d. , as the company’s chief scientific officer. in this new role, dr. bolen will lead the scientific development and advancement of puretech’s pipeline and will work closely with the team and scientific advisory board as the company identifies and pursues new modalities to address significant medical needs .
already, puretech has invested in two new, undisclosed programs from the new financing: one a digital health device and another in early childhood nutrition. the firm will start two to four new programs a year, zohar said. she said they currently have five projects with human proof - of - concept that are ready to be advanced into full programs .
puretech consulted with former eli lilly executive and weill cornell medical college professor steven paul, and then decided to license the technology and turn it into a depression treatment. paul became chairman and co - founder of tal, and over the past two years, the company has been working behind the scenes completing a prototype of the product and pushing its clinical development .
ok but 7 years for somebody who said it would be 2 - 3 years is a big drawback. it seems to me they’re done. the fact follica isn’t mentioned in the puretech plans says it all. follica was their biggest bet. now they’ve retreated. i don’t know. . i would love tho think things look good but i can’t see how .
robert horvitz, phd, is a board advisor and scientific advisory board chair of puretech health. he received the nobel prize in physiology or medicine and is the david h. koch professor of biology at the massachusetts institute of technology (m. i. t .), an investigator of the howard hughes medical institute, neurobiologist (neurology)... more
“puretech digital’s team of professionals have, through their expertise in seo been able to amplify dhfl’s online performance consistently through the years. their systematic approach to improve search visibility, tenacity in mapping out the ever - changing trends of search & user behavior along with their great turnaround time makes them the team you would want by your side when you tackle digital communication. ”
daphne zohar, chief executive, also revealed that puretech’s gelesis product, a tablet that expands in the stomach to provide a feeling of fullness and help weight loss, would also be available within two years following positive results from studies. the company has also recently started developing a treatment for pancreatic cancer, which currently has a low, five - year survival rate .
and snagging viehbacher is a coup for puretech as it expands its brain trust under the helm of ceo daphne zohar. last year, the firm broadened its ranks of senior partners with the additions of mit' s robert horovitz, a nobel laureate; joi ito, director of the mit media lab, and harvard' s raju kucherlapati, a co - founder of millennium pharmaceuticals .
jjdc also invested in vedanta biosciences, a developer of therapeutics designed to modulate interaction pathways between the microbiome and host immune system. co - founded by puretech ventures, vedanta aims to advance a first - in - class preclinical drug candidate for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases including ibd, as well as a drug - discovery platform to mine mechanisms by which the microbiome modulates the immune system .
[ updated, 11: 00 am et ] few stories have struck a chord with xconomy’s readership quite like that of follica, the puretech ventures - incubated startup founded in 2006 with plans to combat male and female pattern baldness by using adult stem cells to grow new hair follicles. unfortunately, details regarding follica’s science—let alone its clinical progress—have been as tough to spot as a good toupee .
the sync team has assembled a formidable team of advisors. joi ito, puretech board member nad director of the mit media lab is on that list, along with robert zatorre, a mcgill university neuroscientist who leads one of the biggest labs studying the brain and music, and tristan jehan, who founded the music analysis software echo nest software that was acquired by spotify in march last year .
so many questions – and answers we’re not going to get anytime soon i reckon – but it would be interesting to find out how it translated to humans. even if the hair was susceptible to the same process of loss, it would last for a good number of years. a hair cycle is pretty long. fingers crossed we’ll hear about that puretech money being pumped into follica soon .
it’s an article well worth reading if only to see how puretech operates. so the only thing we can do is wait and see what happens next. i think we should take positives from the fact that follica has people like robert langer and neal walker in it’s corner and also the tech. there’s does appear to be quite a lot to support what follica have done and hopefully are doing .
why not telling at least in which phase they are, or are planning? why not a single statement about nothing never. . why? ?? ?? ?? ?? ?? i think that itself does more harm than giving out a little bit of information. i think they won’t grab a single dime from puretech anymore, it looks like that to me. they’re done .
“digital marketing today plays an pivotal role when it comes to awareness and demand generation. with their vast experience in the field of social and digital, puretech is supporting us in building and executing our seo, sem, and social media campaigns. they also help us to analyze and optimize the cost for the campaigns when that we are running for b to b and b to c segments. ”
“the team at puretech has been one of the most reliable agencies i have worked with. they are always polite, take feedback very seriously and always try to suggest the best for the client, regardless of financial benefits (or lack of them). they are always one call away, and their honesty reflects in the work that they do. i wish them all the very best. ”
researchers have gathered preliminary evidence suggesting that music, among the oldest and most enigmatic of human creations, can sometimes quell symptoms of neurological disorders or depression, for example, or increase a person’s tolerance to pain. the goal of the sync project, founded by boston firm puretech ventures, is to provide robust evidence for its health effects by studying a lot more people, and a lot more data .
for life sciences entrepreneurs, the vast amount of information from the project could aid their budding biotech ventures. at boston' s puretech ventures, partners have launched two startups concerned with the human microbiome: vedanta biosciences and a secretive outfit code - named libra. also, mountain view, ca - based onsel and cambridge, ma - based vithera pharmaceuticals are researching drugs based on bacteria in the human body .
yeah, very interesting find. i suspect there has to be something in the works. the big questions i suppose are when and how effective will it be? never quite understood the follica naysayers. i get that people (myself included) were a little upset about the nbc interview and the 3 year timeline but the pr folks at puretech and follica have done a decent job of reigning expectations in in recent years .
“the team at puretech have always been at the top of their job. end to end management of paid campaigns has been their core strength. the team is always ready to capitalize on fresh challenges that are thrown towards them. their thorough knowledge and expertise in running paid campaigns has helped us deliver our results for quite some time now. close monitoring and being proactive in optimizing campaigns has been commendable from their end. ”
“the n. s. foundation team is really impressed with the puretech team & contribution that they have made to our digital presence over the last 3 years. when they came on board, they were new to the education scholarship space but we were amazed with how well they learned our process, who our target customers are and what they are looking for with regard to information. since the first year, they have surpassed all goals and they continually apply new ideas to gain more applicants. the attention to detail, diligence & creativity that they bring to the campaigns is definitely an added advantage. they have always been available - be it for meetings or calls or even helping us out with issues that do not concern them. we will truly recommend puretech to anyone who is looking to evangelize and co - create a digital marketing success story. ”
ow my god… 2013? ? still fgf9? ? why kythera didn’t sponsor it if it is so damn good? why didn’t kythera partnered follica then? why are they just interested in the pgd2? puretech won’t give a cent to follica apparently. i don’t know how we are still talking about this company, and dreaming that they will show something anytime. . they don’t give a f… you know. that’s the truth .
that’s the kind of thing tal medical, a company being incubated by puretech ventures, is trying to prove. today, boston - based tal is announcing that the national institute of mental health will fund a 90 - patient proof - of - concept trial for its anti - depression device, which uses a low - strength magnetic field to try to essentially reset the circuitry of the brain and quickly alleviate the symptoms of depression .
it’s annoying – all the question marks – but it really is a waiting game. i still think there’s a decent chance of hearing more follica news this year, what with puretech’s recent funding and they were very active during the jp morgan healthcare conference too. i get the impression that follica are up to something…but that’s just a guess. who knows really? recent indications would seem to point to something hopefully good on the horizon .
given the fact that puretech has just received a bunch of money and also the fact that the 10billion dollar estimate is only for the small number people who actually try to do something about their hairloss – the actual market for a more permanent solution to hairloss is much much bigger. that alone will be motivation enough for a company like follica. plus we don’t know where they’re at with fgf9 trials, if they’ve even started them yet .
“search engine optimization is an absolute minefield! if you do not know where to dedicate your resources you will end up spending valuable time and money with little results. working with puretech gives us a clear picture as to what processes we need to implement an efficient, effective seo strategy. they also show us which parts of the seo puzzle are missing so that we can work to complete the brand picture online and optimise our ranking. ”
john lamattina, phd, is an independent non - executive director at puretech health and was previously president of pfizer global research and development and senior vice president of pfizer, inc. during his 30 year career at pfizer inc. , dr. lamattina held positions of increasing responsibility for pfizer central research, including vice president of us discovery operations in 1993, senior vice president of worldwide discovery operations in 1998 and senior vice president of worldwide development in 1999 .
the company' s roots are in academic research from adam gazzaley' s cognitive neuroscience lab at ucsf, as well as a brainstorming session among neuroscientists and game designers that puretech held in boston last summer. (gazzaley is speaking at this year' s south by southwest festival, and was featured in a recent pbs special on
the distracted mind .
) one of akili' s advisors is philip rosedale, creator of the virtual world second life .
linkedin says the guy quoted in this article, bernat olle, left the company’s board of directors (after eight years) in january 2015. that can’t be a good sign. follica has laid off staff before, but now they don’t even have anyone running this company. i just wish they would have the heart to give us an update (i. e. what went wrong ?) after all the support and media attention we’ve given puretech for the past decade .
the findings of the human microbiome project
… will constitute a robust baseline for what an average healthy microbiome looks like, and how much variation from that average is typical ,
puretech senior associate dr. bernat olle told fiercebiotech via email .
this is important and will be useful to companies because if future therapies work by modulating the microbiome of patients, we have to be able to compare the changes we see to meaningful baselines to be confident that there is an effect .
vedanta, which was launched in 2010 by venture capital firm puretech ventures, has been working on using the bacteria in the gut that control parts of the immune system to address autoimmune diseases like ibd. research by kenya honda at the university of tokyo shows that certain strains of a microbe called clostridia control the activity of t cells in the body that regulate immune response, and ve202 is the first potential drug to come out of that research. the drug has shown effectiveness in preclinical studies .
today a company called tal medical is starting up in boston with the goal of developing an entirely new approach to treating depression, inspired by a specific type of magnetic field found in some mri imaging machines. the research is still very early, but the treatment—developed at mclean hospital in belmont, ma—was promising enough to win backing from boston - based puretech ventures and to attract an impressive slate of talent, including former eli lilly executive steven paul, who will serve as the founding chief scientific officer .
“in the last 8 months since we’ve begun tracking leads coming to http: / / investindia. kotak. com, we have received over 25 institutional leads (from across the world) of which many seem good relevant leads. they seem to be searching on keywords that we had guesstimated. our seo efforts seem to be working kudos and thanks to the team at puretech for the ideas on seo, implementation and results. seeing the results, we only feel stronger about doing even better on seo! ”
raju kucherlapati, phd, is an independent non - executive director at puretech health and sits on puretech health’s scientific advisory board. he was a founder and formerly a board member of abgenix (acquired by amgen), and millennium pharmaceuticals (acquired by takeda), and is currently the paul c. cabot professor of genetics and a professor of medicine and at harvard medical school. he was the first scientific director of the harvard - partners center for genetics and genomics. he is a fellow of the american association for the advancement of science and a member of the institute of medicine of the national academy of sciences. dr. kucherlapati’s laboratory at harvard medical school is involved in cloning and characterization of human disease genes with a focus on human syndromes with a significant cardiovascular involvement, use of genetic / genomic approaches to understand the biology of cancer and the generation and characterization of genetically modified mouse models for cancer and other human disorders. he served on the editorial board of the new england journal of medicine and was editor in chief of the journal genomics .
he then moved on to princeton university as a national institutes of health postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of professor e. c. taylor. dr. lamattina serves on the board of directors of puretech health, ziarco pharmaceuticals, ligand pharmaceuticals, vedanta biosciences, is chairman of the board of gelesis, and is a member of the scientific advisory board of trevena pharmaceuticals. he is the author of devalued and distrusted – can the pharmaceutical industry restore its broken image? and an author of the drug truths blog at forbes. com .
i suggest investors seek some degree of margin of safety due to high institutional ownership in prtc, in particular due to the strong presence of active hedge fund investors. this is to avoid getting trapped in a sustained sell - off that is often observed in stocks with this level of institutional participation. however, other important factors we must never forget to assess are the fundamentals. i recommend you take a look at our latest free analysis report on puretech health to see prtc’s fundamentals and whether it could be considered an undervalued opportunity .
the fact that they’ve created new follicles in humans really doesn’t get enough attention. no one else has done that. that’s huge. but there are questions about quality and quantity of said hair but still the platform works. i assume it’s a case of getting things right and cosmetically viable at this point. fingers crossed we hear something in the next couple months with regards to all that puretech money. they still have the best team in the business. but because we don’t hear news and updates everyday, people assume the worst .
the biopharma veteran' s 6 - year stint at sanofi came to an ignominious end in october, but viehbacher, a boston resident with a penchant for biotech, was always sure to resurface. now, in taking a seat on puretech' s board, he joins luminaries including mit' s robert langer, former pfizer ($ pfe) r & d boss john lamattina and ex - merck ($ mrk) research head ben shapiro at a firm that splits the difference between being a research institute and a traditional venture capital outfit .
thanks vikki. yeah, i hope at least one of those is true! i was wondering about the relationship or potential relationship between aclaris and follica. we do know for sure that follica did outsource some of their investigatory work and it’s a heck of a coincidence that aclaris specialize is topical formulations for skin. i haven’t really been in doubt about follica since the june announcement but what is interesting me a lot is their next move. certainly puretech have positioned themselves very firmly as a healthcare company so they could easily go it alone .
ben shapiro, md, is a co - founder and non - executive director at puretech health. he was previously executive vice president of research for merck. in this position, he was responsible for all basic and preclinical research activities at merck worldwide. dr. shapiro led the research program that resulted in fda registration of approximately 25 drugs and vaccines. in addition to overseeing merck internal research, shapiro was responsible for in - licensing activities. previously, he was professor and chairman of the department of biochemistry at the university of washington.
puretech is a cross-disciplinary biotech company located in boston , massachusetts . the company has a pipeline of products in cns , gi and immune indications , in emerging areas like the microbiome and digital medicine . puretech identifies health care problems and works with employees , therapeutic area experts , and external partners to develop potential solutions . 
puretech is a cross-disciplinary biotech company located in boston, massachusetts. the company has a pipeline of products in cns, gi and immune indications, in emerging areas like the microbiome and digital medicine. puretech identifies health care problems and works with employees, therapeutic area experts, and external partners to develop potential solutions.
puretech is a cross-disciplinary biotech company located in boston, massachusetts. the company has a pipeline of products in cns, gi and immune indications, in emerging areas like the microbiome and digital medicine. puretech identifies health care problems and works with employees, therapeutic area experts, and external partners to develop potential solutions.