It’s been a busy morning for Paragon Labs. In addition to installing several members of the former leadership team of AbbVie-acquired Apogee Therapeutics, Paragon has seen its hypertension-focused spinout Velaris Therapeutics enter the public markets through an acquisition by Nasdaq-listed Alaunos Therapeutics.
Four months after AbbVie announced its $10.9 billion deal to buy Apogee for its late-phase eczema drug zumilokibart, it seems like Paragon has taken its pick of the biotech’s top talent. This includes Michael Henderson, M.D., who headed up Apogee until the sale and will now take up the same role at Paragon.
Henderson will be joined at Paragon by his Apogee colleagues, namely head of R&D Carl Dambkowski, M.D., chief business and financial officer Dan Mulreany, chief legal officer Matt Batters and chief people officer Emily Cox.
The Apogee alumni are no strangers to Paragon. In fact, zumilokibart was originally developed at Paragon before the Boston-based biotech drug discovery hub spun out Apogee to take the anti-IL-13 antibody forward.
“At Apogee, we learned a tremendous amount about what it takes to translate Paragon-discovered programs into clinical-stage medicines,” Henderson said in an Oct. 13 release.
“We now have an opportunity to apply those lessons to clinical development, regulatory strategy and execution from the very start, as Paragon's programs take shape,” the newly appointed CEO said.
“That means bringing all of these insights to make decisions even earlier, so the companies that license Paragon's most promising assets can bring them to patients even faster,” Henderson added.
Paragon was founded by life sciences investment firm Fairmount in 2021. As well as Apogee, Paragon has spun out biotechs like inflammatory bowel disease-focused Spyre Therapeutics and Oruka Therapeutics, whose long-acting plaque psoriasis candidate could pose a threat to AbbVie’s Skyrizi.
Paragon had some other news to share about another one of its spinouts, Velaris Therapeutics, which has been acquired by Nasdaq-listed Alaunos Therapeutics. The combined company will be focused on Velaris’ pipeline of ActRII-Fc ligand traps and complementary biologics designed to address signaling imbalances that drive remodeling of blood vessels in the lungs in multiple cardiopulmonary conditions.
These plans will be bankrolled by a $350 million private placement led by Fairmount, which is expected to fund the combined company into 2029.
Velaris’ pipeline comes from Paragon and is headed up by VLR199, an ActRIIA-Fc ligand trap designed to improve on Merck & Co.’s activin signaling inhibitor Winrevair as a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
Henderson, who has also been appointed president of Velaris, said the company aims to “transform the treatment of pulmonary hypertension, starting with PAH.”
“We’ve built a capital-efficient plan to rapidly achieve proof-of-concept in PAH and demonstrate value,” Henderson added. “With a pipeline built to provide optionality around ligand traps, to address complementary signaling pathways, and to offer compelling follow-on opportunities beyond PAH, we are excited for this next chapter.”