NEWS OF THE WEEK
NEW YORK GETS BIOTECH BOOST START-UPS: First two companies to launch out of Accelerator signal momentum in New York City
T
ALEXANDRIA CENTER
Petra and Lodo will be located in the Alexandria Center for Life Science.
HE BIOTECH ECOSYSTEM in New York City, once practically nonexistent, is starting to come to life. Biotech investment and management firm Accelerator has unveiled two new companies: Petra Pharma, which launches with $48 million in financing to develop small molecules targeting enzymes implicated in cancer and metabolic diseases, and Lodo Therapeutics, which debuts with $17 million to develop natural-productderived therapeutics. Petra is rooted in research from two well-known academic entrepreneurs: Weill Cornell Medical College biochemist Lewis Cantley, who previously founded cancer metabolism firm Agios, and Harvard University chemist Nathanael
FOOD WRAPPER CHEMICALS BANNED HEALTH: FDA prohibits three perfluorinated substances in packaging
T
HREE PERFLUOROALKYL ethyl-containing
substances that repel grease and water can no longer be used to coat paper that comes into contact with food sold in the U.S., the Food & Drug Administration announced on Jan. 4. FDA’s THE SUBSTANCES action comes in response to a 2014 petition OF CONCERN: by environmental and public health groups ◾ certain diethanolamine salts that claim the chemicals are linked to cancer and birth defects. of mono- and bis-(1H, 1H, 2H, The substances have been used in micro2H- perfluoroalkyl) phosphates ◾ 4,4-bis-[(γ-ω-perfluoro-C8–20- wave popcorn bags, pizza boxes, fast-food wrappers, and other paper food packaging. alkyl)thio] derivatives ◾ certain perfluoroalkylThe chemicals have not been made in the U.S. since 2011. But food packaging that substituted phosphate ester contains the compounds could be made in acids CEN.ACS.ORG
4
Gray, who is also a founder of Syros Pharmaceuticals. The new biotech firm has a multiyear research pact with Cantley’s lab and is backed by investors that include Eli Lilly & Co., Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and WuXi PharmaTech. Lodo, meanwhile, was spun out of the labs of Rockefeller University chemist Sean Brady, who mines microbial genomes for novel molecules. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which funded earlier work in Brady’s lab, is an investor in Lodo. In keeping with the foundation’s mission, the biotech will develop drugs for infectious diseases such as tuberculosis as well as for cancer, metabolic disorders, and rare diseases. Petra and Lodo are the first New York City-based firms to be launched by Accelerator, which previously had started companies only in Seattle. But in mid-2014, Accelerator opened offices and lab space at the Alexandria Center for Life Science, two glass-fronted buildings on Manhattan’s East Side that are a short walk from some of New York’s top medical research institutes. Although several big pharma companies established labs in the Alexandria Center, New York City has struggled to attract a critical mass of young biotech firms. Accelerator CEO Thong Le thinks the time is now right. “You have, for the first time, a select group of investors looking hard at research and making an effort to establish companies in the heart of New York City,” Le says. Indeed, momentum is building. Last month, Kallyope, a biotech firm that raised $44 million to develop drugs that exploit the relationship between the gut and the brain, said it would take up labs at the Alexandria Center.—LISA JARVIS
other countries and imported into the U.S., FDA says. The basis for FDA’s action is new toxicity data for substances that are structurally similar to these compounds. “There is no longer a reasonable certainty of no harm from the food-contact use of these food-contact substances,” the agency says. The groups that petitioned FDA welcome the ban but say it is just a small step toward improving U.S. food safety. FDA’s action does nothing to stop food packaging companies from using nearly 100 related chemicals that may also be hazardous, says the Environmental Working Group (EWG), one of the petitioners. “We know very little about the safety of these nextgeneration perfluorinated compounds in food wrappers,” says David Andrews, senior scientist at EWG. “But their chemical structure is very similar to the ones that have been phased out,” he says. “Limited safety testing that has been done suggests they may have some of the same health hazards.” The Natural Resources Defense Council, which also signed the 2014 petition, is urging FDA to quickly act on another petition filed last year that asks the agency to ban seven flavorings used in food, claiming they too cause cancer.—BRITT ERICKSON
JANUARY 11, 2016
