Novel medicines to treat fibrosis no matter the cause
Inspired by nature. Fueled by insight.
Science
Our mission is to treat fibrosis,
regardless of the cause, tissue or diagnosis.
Wherever fibrosis occurs in the body, or whatever causes it, certain underlying mechanisms are the same. Whether driven by injury, toxins, immune dysfunction or unidentifiable factors, fibrotic cells produce a cascade of signaling proteins that ultimately lead to the replacement of healthy, functional tissue with collagen and other connective material. The resulting scarring and loss of tissue architecture can lead to failure of crucial organs such as the heart, kidneys, lungs or liver.
At Tribune Therapeutics, we are developing novel medicines that efficiently target multiple drivers of fibrosis to stop this cycle of scar formation. Our strategy co-opts natural mechanisms, interrupting signaling by key CCN protein family members (such as CCN2, also known as CTGF) that play a central role in the pro-fibrotic pathway. By leveraging new observations about the structure-function relationships of these proteins, we are able to produce strong anti-fibrotic effects in animal models of both lung and kidney fibrosis. Our most advanced candidate, TRX-44, interferes with activated pro-fibrotic CCN domains to block fibrotic signaling without the pharmacokinetic challenges faced by more limited approaches.
About Us
Tribune Therapeutics is a preclinical biopharmaceutical company building a promising pipeline of novel medicines to treat patients with a wide range of fibrotic diseases. It was founded in 2020 with funding from HealthCap and Novo Seeds. The company’s pipeline is based on research by co-founder Dr. Ole Kaasbøll, who built upon decades of research on CCN signaling in the lab of Dr. Håvard Attramadal.
Board of Directors
Former partner of HealthCap. Prior to joining HealthCap as a medical associate in 2008, Mr. Hansson held various sales and marketing positions within Janssen Pharmaceutical (J&J).
He received his M.Sc. in Pharmacy from Uppsala University and his master’s thesis was presented at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. Mr. Hansson also holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics.
Mr. Hansson was the CEO of HealthCap start-up Wilson Therapeutics AB, acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2018.
Björn Odlander is a founder of HealthCap and serves as its Managing Partner. Previously, he pursued scientific research in the biochemistry of inflammation at Karolinska Institutet and has headed the Health Care Equity Research Team at ABB Aros Securities.
He was voted best pharmaceutical analyst consecutively from 1993 to 1996 according to Swedish business journal Affärsvärlden. During his tenure with ABB Aros Securities, Dr. Odlander also served as advisor to the management of several major pharmaceutical and medical technology companies.
Björn Odlander has extensive experience from multiple board assignments from listed and un-listed companies in the life science sector, including Q-Med AB, NicOx SA, Jerini AG and Nordic Nanovector ASA.
Partner of Novo Seeds. After nine years in clinical and academic medicine in Denmark and in the United States, Jørgen spent 18 years in R&D Executive positions in Denmark, Switzerland, United States, France and Germany.
Jørgen co-founded and built the Nasdaq-listed biotech company Zealand Pharma (ZEAL.CO), established the Immunology franchise at Merck, and has held leadership roles at Lundbeck and Novo Nordisk.
He has industrial R&D experience across multiple therapeutic areas, including CNS, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, oncology and autoimmune disease, and has been involved in a number of major pharmaceutical licensing deals and alliances.
Jørgen holds MD, PhD, and DMSc degrees from the University of Copenhagen and an Executive MBA degree from the Technical University of Denmark.
Founding Partner at Innovestor Life Science Fund, the new Nordic VC investing in biotech and digital health. Prior to joining Innovestor, Milla spent several years spinning out research based companies from the University of Helsinki and managing the commercialization of University’s patent portfolio. Milla is also an inventor in several patents in the pharmaceutical field, and co-founder of three biotechs based on her team’s own academic inventions. She brings 20+ years of experience in life science start up and growth company management, fundraising, structuring and executing licensing agreements.
Milla holds a PhD in Biotechnology and Adjunct Professorship in Neurobiology. She has studied at Stanford University and made a research career at A.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences in Finland and in US based pharmaceutical companies including Scios Inc and Eli Lilly and Company in CNS therapy area.
Elias Papatheodorou brings with him more than 25 years of experience.
He was the CEO of clinical stage fibrosis company Genkyotex ($GKTX.PA), acquired by Calliditas ($CALT). Prior to Genkyotex, he was the CBO of Covagen, acquired by Janssen, the SVP of Medigene MDG1 and the CEO of Novosom AG, assets acquired by Marina Biotech. Mr. Papatheodorou started his career from Philip Morris International and the Coca-Cola Company.
He studied in the United States at Ithaca College and Cornell University.
Senior Associate at Novo Seeds. Before joining Novo, Joao was an Analyst at M Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA.Â. Prior to this, Joao started several ventures in the US and Europe.
In the US, he helped start a technology company and was part of MIT Hacking Medicine, an organization that promotes healthcare innovation around the world. In Europe, he was an Innovation Fellow at the European Institute of Innovation and Technology and co-founded a medical device company.
Joao holds a PhD from the University of Coimbra, and conducted his research in Boston at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He currently hosts a podcast discussing visionary ideas shaping the future.
Dr. Kaasbøll is a licensed MD and has a PhD on the subject of CCN2/CTGF (“Connective Tissue Growth Factor”) signaling. Dr. Kaasbøll isolated the bioactive fragment of CCN2 that had evaded the field for almost 3 decades and established systems for its production.
Dr. Kaasbøll began working in Dr. Håvard Attramadal’s laboratory at the Oslo University Hospital in 2017. He developed what has now become Tribune Therapeutics’ lead molecule, TRX-44, an anti-fibrotic protein therapeutic targeting CCN signaling. Dr. Kaasbøll is a co-founder and the CSO of Tribune Therapeutics.
Scientific Advisers
Dr. Lars Erwig is an industry veteran and director for the Centre for Drug Development at Cancer Research UK. Before joining Cancer Research UK, Dr. Erwig was vice president for External Innovation at J&J, where he was responsible for growing academic and industry networks and advancing external opportunities. He has also led early drug development within the Experimental Medicine unit at GSK and as VP and Head of Experimental Medicine at Galvani Bioelectronics, a GSK/Google-Verily funded company.
He is a board-certified nephrologist with a PhD in Immunology and has published extensively on the role of macrophages in the kidney and other inflammatory disease.
He brings a wealth of experience and expertise on drug development for both pulmonary and kidney diseases from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors.
Dr. Toby Maher is a leading respiratory researcher and Professor of Medicine and Director of Interstitial Lung Disease at Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He is also the British Lung Foundation Chair in Respiratory Research and Professor of Interstitial Lung Disease at Imperial College, London. His research interests include basic and translational research into idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, with a major focus on biomarker discovery, early phase clinical trials, and the pre-clinical validation of new targets and compounds for the treatment of fibrosing lung disease.
Dr. Tom Plitz is Chief Executive Officer of Prexirix NV, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation radiopharmaceuticals based on single-domain antibodies. He serves on the board of several biotech companies.
Prior to joining Precirix, Tom was the CEO of Chord Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotech company active in neurology, which he sold to Merck. Before that, he served as CSO of Wilson Therapeutics, acquired by Alexion.
Tom brings over 20 years of experience in leadership roles in the pharmaceutical industry. He holds Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from Technical University of Munich, Germany.
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Collaborators
Investors
Careers
We are a science-driven biotech company committed to improving patients’ lives. We are always looking to connect with people who have pharmaceutical development experience and share our goals.
Contact us using the link below to learn more about opportunities at Tribune.
