2019 Year in Review
Nine new projects, three announced partnerships
by: Andrew A. Radin
CEO, twoXAR
Like many of you, I am winding down my work week to prepare for the holiday season. As a new decade approaches it is a good time to reflect on the events of the past year.
2019 saw tremendous growth for twoXAR. We launched nine new disease areas, expanding to new disease programs in our focus areas of ophthalmology, immunology & inflammatory, oncology and metabolic. We ended the year with eighteen total diseases in our portfolio, six of which have been out licensed.
New licensing deals in 2019 included brain cancer with Korea’s 1ST Biotherapeutics, neurodegeneration with Japan’s Ono Pharmaceuticals and lung cancer with SK Biopharmaceuticals of Korea. We also signed confidential deals which we hope to share more news about in the coming year.
We also brought in new talent to help manage the increased activity. Allen Poirson, former CEO of Sony Biotechnology, joined us as SVP of Business Development, and recently Mark G. Eller, former SVP of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, transitioned from twoXAR KOL to SVP of R&D, leading our scientific team.
What I’m most proud about is the efficiency our technology and process demonstrated. Within this past year alone, three programs have emerged with lead compounds showing safety and efficacy signals in vivo that warrant clinical investigation. We accomplished all of this with a team of less than 20 employees working out of a small office in Silicon Valley.
I’m looking forward to more scientific success in 2020 to help further advance new medications to patients in need.
