Today Aizen Therapeutics emerged from stealth with a $13 million round of funding, led by Madrona, to advance its groundbreaking platform to develop Mirror Peptides. We are excited to back this company and team. Aizen spun out of David Van Valen’s lab at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) to advance peptide therapeutics with the new generation of computational protein design tools now available. While peptides have enormous potential (see the impact GLP-1 drugs are having across multiple diseases), de novo-designed peptides have inherent challenges, including short half-life in the body and immunogenicity concerns. Aizen is solving these key issues by flipping the problem on its head, literally — engineering D-peptides, the mirror image of naturally occurring L-peptides.
Peptides composed of D-amino acids have long been recognized for their potential due to their enhanced stability and reduced immunogenicity profile. However, designing these molecules at scale has remained a formidable challenge. While single D-amino acids are currently used in many approved therapeutics, entirely mirror peptides have remained out of reach for therapeutics. Aizen has built a proprietary protein design platform integrating cutting-edge generative AI to design, develop, and test in the lab these novel peptides. This innovation enables the systematic creation of D-peptides, unlocking vast new chemical spaces and paving the way for entirely novel therapeutic possibilities.
A Visionary Team Tackling Complex Biological Problems
At the heart of Aizen is a leadership team blending expertise in AI, biology, and drug development to solve some of medicine’s toughest challenges. CEO Ajay Kshatriya and Professor Van Valen have assembled a world-class team with deep biopharma expertise, as well as scientific advisors including Michael Kay from the University of Utah School of Medicine, a world leader in D-peptide therapeutic development. This multidisciplinary approach positions Aizen to drive breakthroughs in drug discovery and development.
Expanding the Horizons of Precision Medicine
Aizen’s Mirror Peptide platform focuses on precision targeting in a diverse array of clinical applications, offering a novel approach to precision medicine. The platform addresses longstanding challenges in areas such as crossing biological barriers and multifunctional peptide development, expanding the scope of peptide-based therapeutics into uncharted territory.
Madrona has been working with the team since Day One and we are proud to lead this round with investors from Wilson Hill and Cercano by our side. Aizen is building a robust pipeline of internal drug candidates while pursuing collaborations with leading biopharma companies.
Aizen Therapeutics exemplifies the next frontier in AI-driven biotech innovation that blends advanced generative computational platforms with lab processes that can produce data at scale. This is at the core of Madrona’s biotech thesis. By leveraging the Mirror Peptide platform, the company is not only solving longstanding challenges in peptide therapeutics but also offering new hope for tackling complex diseases with precision and efficacy.
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