extracellular-protein-degraders
(3)
Avilar Therapeutics
Avilar Therapeutics is a Waltham, Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company pioneering the degradation of extracellular and membrane-bound proteins. Its ATAC (ASGPR Targeting Chimera) platform uses bifunctional small molecules that grab a disease-causing protein floating in circulation and shuttle it into the liver's endolysosome to be destroyed, extending the reach of targeted protein degradation beyond the inside of the cell. Launched in 2021 with backing from RA Capital, Avilar is applying the platform to autoimmune disease, preeclampsia, and other conditions driven by proteins that conventional drugs struggle to address.
Joel Barrish
Joel Barrish is the President and CEO of Avilar Therapeutics, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company pioneering extracellular protein degradation. A medicinal chemist by training with a Ph.D. from Columbia University, Barrish spent 28 years at Bristol Myers Squibb rising to VP and Global Head of Discovery Chemistry, co-inventing blockbuster drugs including SPRYCEL (dasatinib) for leukemia. After stints as CSO at Achillion Pharmaceuticals and co-founder/President at Jnana Therapeutics, he founded Avilar in 2019 to build the ATAC and MTAC platforms - bifunctional molecules that hijack the body's own cellular recycling machinery to degrade disease-causing proteins outside the cell, a class of targets previously undruggable. Avilar has raised $75 million in total seed financing.
GlycoEra AG
GlycoEra AG is a Swiss-American clinical-stage biotech building a new class of precision medicines that selectively degrade the circulating proteins driving autoimmune disease. Spun out of LimmaTech Biologics in 2021 and powered by a proprietary glycoengineering platform, the company designs bifunctional biologics (G-LyTACs) that pull pathogenic autoantibodies out of the bloodstream with speed and depth - without the broad immune suppression of existing therapies. Its lead program, GE8820, targets pathogenic IgG4 autoantibodies. Backed by $179M across Series A and an oversubscribed $130M Series B, GlycoEra operates from Wädenswil, Switzerland and Newton, Massachusetts.