Key Highlights
- $14.5 million in seed funding led by Hummingbird Ventures.
- Pioneering spatial pooled screening technology for solid tumor cell therapies.
- Initial focus on CAR T-cell therapies and future Treg therapies for autoimmune diseases.
- Founders Xinchen Wang and David Phizicky leverage AI, automation, and spatial biology.
Source: Business Wire
Notable Quotes
- “Our platform turbocharges traditional pooled screening by leveraging spatial biology to generate complex, multivariate and spatial readouts for every perturbation, helping us quickly generate novel drug candidates with a greater probability of clinical success.” — Xinchen Wang, PhD, Co-founder and CEO at Waypoint Bio
- “Using spatial biology, we’re able to read out not only which assets show efficacy in vivo, but also why these assets succeed or fail, and which assets match the phenotypes observed from patient samples.” — David Phizicky, PhD, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Waypoint Bio
- “Waypoint Bio’s founders are part of an extremely unique subset of scientists that understand the wet lab and computational biology equally well, evidenced by how they combine an in vivo spatial pooled screening platform to generate interpretations of disease that open the door for many new therapies for underserved patients.” — Pablo Lubroth, Investor at Hummingbird Ventures
SoHC's Take
Waypoint Bio’s innovative approach to leveraging spatial biology in pooled screening is a significant leap forward in the field of cell therapy for solid tumors. The ability to conduct high-throughput, in vivo screens and measure complex phenotypes at the single-cell level can accelerate the discovery of effective treatments for challenging diseases like pancreatic cancer. This substantial seed funding will enable Waypoint to advance its CAR T-cell and Treg therapy programs, potentially transforming the landscape of cancer treatment and autoimmune disease management. The expertise and unique backgrounds of the founders, combined with the support from notable investors and advisors, position Waypoint Bio as a promising leader in the biotechnology sector.
