oral-peptides
(4)
Insamo
Insamo is a Berkeley-based biotechnology company spun out of UC Berkeley that is building membrane-permeable, orally available macrocyclic peptides with antibody-like binding affinity. By pairing machine-learning-driven molecular design with ultra-high-throughput molecular biology and parallel synthetic chemistry, Insamo runs automated design-synthesize-test cycles that generate trillions of proprietary data points - aiming to turn today's injected biologics into pills and to hit drug targets long considered undruggable. The company launched publicly in February 2024 with a $12M seed round led by Playground Global, venBio, and Merck's MRL Ventures Fund.
Timothy Craven
Timothy Craven is the co-founder and CEO of Insamo, a Berkeley-based biotech using machine learning, ultra high-throughput biology, and parallel chemistry to design membrane-permeable, orally available macrocyclic peptides with antibody-like binding. A computational chemist trained in the Nobel-winning lab of David Baker, Craven started Insamo from a grad-school concept with $20,000 of his own money and grew it into a Berkeley-Sydney team backed by a $12M seed from Playground Global, venBio, and Merck's MRL Ventures Fund. His pitch is blunt: turn $30,000 injectable biologics into pills.
Protagonist Therapeutics
Protagonist Therapeutics is a Newark, California clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that turns peptides - short chains of amino acids long dismissed as too fragile to be drugs - into stable, often orally available medicines. Its proprietary peptide discovery and engineering platform powers a pipeline spanning hematology, inflammation/immunology and metabolic disease, anchored by rusfertide (a hepcidin mimetic for polycythemia vera under FDA Priority Review) and icotrokinra, an oral IL-23 receptor blocker partnered with Johnson & Johnson that reached the U.S. market in 2026. Publicly traded on Nasdaq as PTGX, the company pairs internal discovery with high-value pharma partnerships.
Dinesh V. Patel
Dinesh V. Patel, Ph.D. is the President and CEO of Protagonist Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTGX), a Newark, California-based biopharmaceutical company he has led since December 2008. With over 38 years spanning medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, venture capital co-founding, and three CEO stints, Patel has guided Protagonist from a peptide-platform startup to a company with its first FDA-approved drug - ICOTYDE (icotrokinra), approved March 2026 as the world's first targeted oral peptide for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, partnered with Johnson & Johnson.