Autobahn Labs, a virtual incubator partnering with top academic and research institutions to catalyze early-stage drug discovery and development, today announced a strategic collaboration with the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
The organizations will partner to identify promising early science with significant therapeutic potential, forming jointly owned ventures to accelerate the translation of scientific ideas to novel therapeutics.
"UCSF combines world-class medicine, cutting-edge research, and a strong track record of innovation in drug discovery," said Thomas Novak, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of Autobahn Labs. "We're excited to partner their great science with Autobahn Labs' resources and capabilities to spark the development of meaningful new therapies for patients."
The goal of Innovation Ventures is to help UCSF faculty and students transition their innovations from the lab to the marketplace, where they can do the most good. Partnering with Autobahn Labs will allow us to bridge our extensive scientific expertise with their experience in drug development to get the best therapies out there quickly for patient benefit."
Barry Selick, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Business Development, Innovation and Partnerships
The collaboration with UCSF is the second partnership announced by Autobahn Labs since the organization's launch in June 2020, and expands the reach of the innovative partnership between Samsara BioCapital and Evotec.
Samsara conceived of the unique investment model to systematically identify and build investible companies based on cutting-edge academic discoveries. The firm found a natural partner in Evotec, a company with an established track record of translating early-stage academic research to drug discovery and development through its "BRIDGE" (Biomedical Research, Innovation & Development Generation Efficiency) program.
The Autobahn Labs model provides Principal Investigators with scientific and operational strategy, direct and immediate access to Evotec's state-of-the-art drug discovery and development technologies and capabilities, and an investor syndicate with deep therapeutic expertise.
"As a virtual incubator for academic life science projects, Autobahn Labs is all about innovation efficiency," said Dr. Werner Lanthaler, CEO of Evotec SE. "With UCSF we welcome another top-tier academic institution to Autobahn Labs. By providing direct access to both our leading drug discovery and development platform as well as substantial funding, we are confident that Autobahn Labs will kick start early-stage innovation out of academia through jointly owned new ventures."
"We are thrilled to have this opportunity to bring UCSF's renowned faculty together with Evotec's sophisticated drug discovery infrastructure and expertise as well as an experienced network of drug developers and investors. UCSF has a wealth of compelling early-stage programs that we look forward to developing in close collaboration with their researchers," said Michelle Kim-Danely, PhD, SVP of Operations for Autobahn Labs.
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