NEWS
Shanghai, China and San Diego, CA, October 18, 2023, Degron Therapeutics Inc. announced today that Degron Therapeutics and its Co-founder and CEO, Lily Zou, Ph.D., MBA won the Second Prize in 2023 Women’s Venture Competition after fierce competition and rigorous selection by the organizer AIM-HI Accelerator Fund. This is the first time a biotech company from Asia won this honor.
Blue-ribbon judge committee members selected them from a pool of 71 female-led, early-stage oncology companies across 15 countries. The Winners will be recognized at a Luncheon Award Ceremony with certificates and honorariums during the 2023 Global Summit and Award Ceremonies for Cancer Research & Entrepreneurship, co-hosted by AIM-HI and the National Foundation for Cancer Research on October 21, 2023, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
Degron Therapeutics has designed and synthesized a unique molecular glue degrader (MGD) compound library known as the GlueXplorer platform. It uses its platform in combination with phenotypic screening, proteomic screening, and AI to accelerate the development of novel drugs for previously undruggable targets in oncology. Its lead program, a first-in-class MGD of an “undruggable” RNA binding protein which regulates critical cancer survival pathways, will enter clinical trials for multiple oncology indications with high unmet need.
AIM-HI launched the Women’s Venture Competition in 2020 to empower women scientist-entrepreneurs who are underfunded and underserved in the life science industry and create a sustaining impact for cancer patients through their worldwide ventures. AIM-HI harnesses the collective efforts of donors, visionary scientists, and entrepreneurs through its venture philanthropy approach to advance thedevelopment of promising discoveries to breakthrough therapies for patients.
The 2023 committees are comprised of the following persons (listed in alphabetical order):
· Anna D. Barker, Ph.D., Chief Strategy Officers, Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine
· Webster K. Cavenee, Ph.D., Director of Strategic Alliances, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
· Yijing (Jane) Chen, Ph.D., Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
· Aleksandra Filipovic, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Oncology, PureTech Health
· Pamela Garzone, Ph.D., Chief Development Officers, Anixa Biosciences
· Dimitra Georganopoulou, Ph.D., Innovation Faculty, MIT linQ CATALYST and General Partner of Qral Ventures
· Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D., Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics and Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
· Brian Leyland-Jones, M.B., B.S., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer, National Foundation for Cancer Research
· Scott Lippman, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine & Associate Vice Chancellor for Cancer Research, UC San Diego Health
· Beverly Lu, Ph.D., Investment Manager, Health, Emerson Collective
· Jimmy Lu, J.D., MBA, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Eos BioInnovation
· Eva Martin, M.D., Senior Director, Alliance and Asset Management, Roche Pharma Partnering
· Tom Miller, Founder and Managing Partner, GreyBird Ventures
· Gregory W. Mitchell, Ph.D., J.D., Of Counsel, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
· Kornelia Polyak, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
· Fei Shen, Ph.D., Managing Director, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund USA
· Suzanne Topalian, M.D., Associate Director, Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Johns Hopkins University
· Kevin Tylock, Ph.D., J.D., Associate, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
About the Women’s Venture Competition
The Women’s Venture Competition is a first-of-its-kind program that provides funding, coaching, and networking opportunities to women-led oncology startups. Three committees (selection, judging, and investment), whose members are world-class key opinion leaders, life sciences industry experts, investors, and entrepreneurs, provided assessments and recommendations for recognizing the Women’s Venture Competition winners based on scientific and clinical merits and business impact for cancer patients. These winners are qualified to go into further due diligence for investment from the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund and its co-investors, contingent upon mutual agreement on investment terms.
About the AIM-HI Accelerator Fund
The AIM-HI Accelerator Fund (AIM-HI) is an independent 501(C)(3) non-profit organization created in 2019 by the National Foundation for Cancer Research to provide oncology startups with the resources they need to drive innovative discoveries forward, out of the lab, to the clinics, and eventually to the people battling cancer. Our non-profit changes the paradigm of funding biotech startups, utilizing charitable giving to make impact investments. Our mission is to bridge the gap between research breakthroughs and clinical trials, aiming to develop innovative cancer therapies and technologies that can save patients’ lives.
About Degron Therapeutics
Degron Therapeutics is a biotechnology company advancing human health by developing novel medicines using its robust molecular glue-based targeted protein degradation drug discovery platform. The company's unique GlueXplorer® platform has created a rapidly expanding IP-protected compound library and screening system to develop a new class of small-molecule medicines that target previously undruggable disease targets. The company's pipeline includes a growing number of preclinical compounds for oncology, inflammation, metabolic disease, and rare diseases. For more information, visit www.degrontx.com.cn
