Xealth, Sparing Vision, and Code Biotherapeutics were among the UPMC Enterprises’ portfolio companies in the news in the past month.
The vision startup adds a unique gene-independent approach to treat the later stages of rod-cone dystrophies such as retinitis pigmentosa, and the deal broadens SparingVision’s innovative genomic medicine pipeline to address both mid and late stages of rod-cone dystrophies with the added potential to combine both products.
IoT World Today explores the role of cloud in digital health infrastructure and interviews Xealth CEO Mike McSherry. The CEO states, “The traditional source of truth for hospitals are medical records, but that’s an extremely small segment of the data versus what the RPM apps and devices are collecting.”
Writing in Forbes magazine, Mike McSherry, CEO of Xealth, says health care should focus on a wider array of digital health solutions, beyond telehealth, to capture the attention and loyalty of patients. “As someone who spent significant time in consumer technology, I sometimes struggle to come to terms with the idea that things I view as normal — like people using their smartphones for nearly everything — are still relatively new concepts in health care.”
Mike McSherry of Xealth is one of five finalists for the publication’s Startup CEO of the Year award.
The biotech, which is preclinical but wants the cash to chase these drugs into the clinic, got off a $72 million raise in January just over a year after it nabbed $56 million series A back in November 2019. Now, the company wants a $100 million IPO, though don’t be surprised if, like so many other biotechs over the past year, it ends up getting more than that.
As it chases its shape-shifting cytokine drugs toward the clinic, Werewolf Therapeutics will collect $120 million in its Wall Street debut. The company bumped its initial public offering up to $120 million by upping the number of shares it would offer—no small feat, given that the biotech is still preclinical with much to prove.
Code Biotherapeutics, Inc., a next-generation gene therapy company pioneering the development of targeted non-viral gene therapies for rare and prevalent genetic diseases, launches today with $10 million in financing and headquarters in the Philadelphia region’s leading gene therapy epicenter. 4BIO Capital and UPMC Enterprises co-led the Seed financing with participation from CureDuchenne Ventures, JDRF T1D Fund, New Enterprise Associates, and Takeda Ventures, Inc.
