Senior Science Correspondent for @Endpts covering biotech, drug discovery, gene editing, RNA, and more. Formerly at Boston Globe and C&EN. Signal: RyanCross.25
Joined February 2015
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The Science Boss is back! It's my first day at @endpts, a @FinancialTimes co. I'll be writing news, analysis, and features as the Senior Science Correspondent for Endpoints, with a focus on the science, reseach, and tech of biomed, biotech, and pharma.
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Alnylam @Alnylam $ALNY plans bigger study of its siRNA drug for Huntington’s disease after new Phase 1 data suggests some of the best reduction of the disease-linked mHTT protein yet. But its a tough field. More details in my story for @endpts: endpoints.news/alnylam-plans…
China biotech RiboX reveals first data of a circular RNA therapy in people, with benefits seemingly lasting six months. “That seems pretty crazy, but it’s possible, I guess,” an RNA biologist in Boston told me. My story for @endpts has the details: endpoints.news/china-biotech…
Astellas partners with Boston ‘miniproteins’ startup AI Proteins. Details in my exclusive for @endpts: - endpoints.news/exclusive-ast…
We've got a great event at @endpts starting up at 11:00 am ET.
I'm interviewing Stanford's @lecong, Basecamp's John Finn and Waterfall Scientific's Melissa Moore (former Moderna CSO) about the intersection of AI and genetic medicine.
Tune in here: events.endpoints.news/aiday2…
Arrowhead’s brain-targeting siRNA, administered as a subcutaneous injection, lowers the Alzheimer’s protein tau in early study. Lots of work ahead here, but good news for delivery tech designed to cross the blood-brain barrier. My story for @endpts: - endpoints.news/arrowheads-br…
For decades, Rudolph Tanzi has dreamt of a “little white pill” to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Now, his startup Acta Pharma is getting ready to test a drug that could block the buildup of amyloid plaques. My deep dive for @endpts has the details: endpoints.news/rudy-tanzi-ha…
Bexorg got a $28M ARPA-H award to run longer tests on ‘rebooted’ human brains (don't call them "alive") obtained from organ donaors. Last year, they were limiting most tests to 24 hours. Now they will try to keep the brains running for two weeks. @endpts endpoints.news/bexorg-gets-2…
Bexorg is using its brain-rebooting technology to study drugs before they are tested in living humans. My deep dive I wrote for Endpoints last year gets into the scientific, ethical and businsess details: endpoints.news/rebooting-dea…
David Sinclair has developed a version of epigenetic reprogramming that uses a cocktail of small molecules instead of a gene therapy encoding transcription factors. The work was presented for the first time to a packed room at #ARDD yesterday. @endpts - endpoints.news/david-sinclai…
Cambridge, MA-based gene editing company Beam Therapeutics sues Shanghai-based YolTech and US-based Serapha Bio for stealing its gene editing and lipid nanoparticle tech, a claim that Serapha and YolTech deny. My story for @endpts has the details: endpoints.news/beam-sues-yol…
In case you missed it last week, @AndrewE_Dunn has a must-read story about one mother who fought for access to Vertex's cystic fibrosis drug Trikafta to begin taking the pills before her daughter was born. endpoints.news/in-a-changed-…
Drug development has a lab-to-clinic translation problem. Therapies that look great in animal experiments routinely fail in people. @vivodyne, an Endpoints 11 winner this year, wants to change that by testing drugs in lab-grown human tissue
endpoints.news/endpoints-11-… @endpts
Vivodyne showed me videos of experimental CAR-T cell therapies migrating out of lab grown blood vessels into nearby tumors. Another set of experiments with lab grown bone marrow is helping the startup’s pharma partners screen cancer drugs to eliminate ones with toxic side effects
The company has raised about $80 million so far and is raising more to scale up its operations. The timing is good, because the FDA is placing a greater emphasis on methods to reduce or replace animal testing. Read more about the company's technology and ambitions in my profile
It's been a tough few years for gene therapy. Sonothera's bold new idea for how to safely deliver large genes into cells, using an ultrasound based approach instead of viruses, has put it on the Endpoints 11 list year. @endpts endpoints.news/endpoints-11-…
It doesn’t sound real, I know, but the technique seems to work astonishingly well in monkeys, boosting the giant muscle protein, dystrophin, to nearly 300% of its normal levels. A clinical trial for Duchenne muscular dystrophy is planned for mid-2027.
There are a lot of questions about how well this technique will work in people. The field of non-viral DNA delivery is littered with once promising ideas. But this startup has the firepower ($125 million raised earlier this year) to actually put its wild idea to the test.
Excited to introduce Medici Therapeutics as part of our Endpoints 11 this year. The company has raised $85M from ARCH Venture Partners to combine cell therapies and personalized cancer vaccines to get immunotherapy to work for tough-to-treat cancers. endpoints.news/endpoints-11-…
The startup was cofounded by CMO Nicholas Restifo, who studied TILs with immunotherapy pioneer Steven Rosenberg for decades, and CEO Denitsa Milanova, who worked on cell rejuvenation with Harvard geneticist George Church.