Calluna Pharma is an Oslo-based clinical-stage biotech building first-in-class antibodies that switch off the upstream signals driving inflammation and fibrosis. Formed in 2024 from the merger of Oxitope Pharma and Arxx Therapeutics and backed by a EUR 75 million Series A, the company targets damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) such as S100A4 to halt diseases like idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis at their root rather than managing symptoms.
Russell Beckerman is a biotech entrepreneur and Co-Founder & CEO of Overture Therapeutics, a Cambridge-based company engineering precision antibody medicines targeting obesity and metabolic dysfunction. He previously co-founded 82VS, a venture studio embedded within Alloy Therapeutics that has launched nine drug companies since 2020. His work sits at the intersection of cutting-edge antibody biology, company creation, and the conviction that the next generation of obesity drugs will be antibodies - not peptides.
NGM Biopharmaceuticals is a private South San Francisco biotech translating biology into first-in-class medicines, anchored by its GDF15/GFRAL antagonist NGM120 in Phase 2 trials for cancer cachexia and hyperemesis gravidarum.
Bryan Faust, PhD is an Investment Partner on the Bio + Health team at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where he backs seed and Series A companies at the intersection of biology and technology. A trained biophysicist with a PhD from UCSF, he published research in Nature, Science, and Cell before pivoting to venture—studying antibody-protein interactions, GPCR signaling, and COVID-19 nanobodies along the way. At a16z he has co-led investments in Stipple Bio, Tessera Labs, Gate Bioscience, and Formation Bio, and writes widely on AI in life sciences, biotech financing, and the coming era of programmable medicine. When he's not reading pitch decks, he's surfing, roasting coffee, or hunting down the perfect tacos al pastor.