third-rock-ventures
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Adam Townsend
He spent two decades launching other people's medicines. Now he is running a biotech built to delete the antibodies that make patients sick - and taking the top job for the first time.
Merida Biosciences
Merida Biosciences is a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotechnology company developing a new class of engineered Fc biotherapeutics that selectively bind and eliminate the disease-causing antibodies behind autoimmune and allergic diseases, while sparing the protective antibodies the immune system needs. Launched publicly in April 2025 with a $121 million Series A, the company aims to treat conditions such as Graves' disease, IgE-mediated allergy and primary membranous nephropathy by clearing pathogenic antibodies and suppressing the B cells that make them - without the broad immunosuppression that limits many existing therapies.
Dominique Verhelle
Dominique Verhelle is a French-born scientist and biotech entrepreneur who co-founded and leads NextRNA Therapeutics, a Boston company building small-molecule drugs that target long non-coding RNA to treat cancers and neurological disorders. With a PhD in life sciences and an MBA in entrepreneurship, she has spent more than two decades across big pharma, venture capital, and startups - including Celgene, Pfizer, Third Rock Ventures, and Takeda - and helped launch Fulcrum Therapeutics and Cedilla Therapeutics before starting NextRNA. She is also an outspoken advocate for women founders in biotech.
Jack Milwid
Jack Milwid is a scientist-turned-company-builder who sits in the Office of the CEO at Lila Sciences, the Flagship Pioneering venture chasing 'scientific superintelligence' through autonomous AI-run laboratories. A materials engineer with a Harvard-MIT PhD, he has spent his career founding biotech companies from scratch - among them Sana Biotechnology, Neon Therapeutics, Cobalt Biomedicine and Kaleido Biosciences - and co-founded the investment firm Related Sciences. His trademark is turning early science into operating companies.
Marea Therapeutics
Marea Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company in San Francisco developing first-in-class medicines for cardioendocrine and cardiometabolic diseases. Incubated by Third Rock Ventures and led by Dr. Josh Lehrer, Marea uses human genetics insights to drive its pipeline, headlined by MAR001, an ANGPTL4-targeting antibody aimed at residual cardiovascular risk, and MAR002 for acromegaly.
Trace Neuroscience
Trace Neuroscience is a South San Francisco biopharmaceutical company developing genomic medicines for neurodegenerative diseases, starting with ALS. Its lead program, TRCN-1023, is an antisense oligonucleotide designed to restore UNC13A protein function - a target genetically validated in roughly 97% of people living with ALS - by correcting the faulty RNA splicing caused by TDP-43 dysfunction. The company launched in November 2024 with a $101 million Series A led by Third Rock Ventures and entered the clinic in 2026.
MOMA Therapeutics
MOMA Therapeutics is a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech building precision small-molecule medicines against 'molecular machines' - the highly dynamic, shape-shifting enzymes (ATPases, GTPases and related proteins) that power cellular processes and underlie cancer and other diseases. Spun out of Third Rock Ventures in 2020 by four academic leaders in protein biophysics and structural biology, MOMA's proprietary KNOMATIC platform fuses deep structural insight, advanced hit-finding (fragment and DNA-encoded library screening) and machine-learning-driven lead optimization to drug targets long considered intractable. The company has raised about $236M, advanced its first oncology program into the clinic, and partnered with Roche and Bayer.
Robert Ross
Robert Ross is a medical oncologist turned biotech executive and the founding CEO of Clasp Therapeutics, a Baltimore-based clinical-stage immuno-oncology company building bispecific T cell engagers that target mutated cancer driver peptides presented by HLA with what the company calls absolute specificity. Launched in March 2024 with a $150 million Series A from Third Rock Ventures, Novo Holdings and Catalio Capital, Clasp is commercializing science from Johns Hopkins legends Bert Vogelstein and Drew Pardoll. Ross previously ran Surface Oncology through its acquisition by Coherus, led oncology at bluebird bio, and trained as a physician at Columbia, Harvard, Stanford and UCSF.
Eric Green
Eric Green is the Founder and CEO of Trace Neuroscience, a South San Francisco biotech company racing to develop the first effective ASO therapy for ALS. A Harvard-and-Stanford-trained physician-scientist with a background in cardiology, Green co-founded iLab Solutions (acquired by Agilent), Respira Design (Stanford $50K Challenge winner), and Maze Therapeutics before launching Trace with a $101 million Series A in November 2024. Trace's lead program targets UNC13A - a protein lost in ALS patients - using an antisense oligonucleotide designed to restore healthy nerve-muscle communication. With clinical trials targeting early 2026, Green is betting human genetics can do for ALS what it did for heart failure.
Josh Lehrer
Josh Lehrer is a physician-scientist and biotech executive serving as CEO of Marea Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company harnessing human genetics to develop first-in-class medicines for cardiometabolic diseases. A cardiologist by training with degrees from Harvard, Cambridge, and UCSF, Lehrer brings over two decades of drug development experience spanning Genentech, Global Blood Therapeutics (where he oversaw the FDA approval of Oxbryta for sickle cell disease), and Graphite Bio. At Marea, he has led the company from a Third Rock Ventures incubation to a $190 million-funded enterprise with two clinical-stage programs showing strong early efficacy data, including a 53% reduction in remnant cholesterol with MAR001 published in The Lancet.
Jung Choi
Jung Choi is the President and CEO of Alterome Therapeutics, a clinical-stage precision oncology company pioneering mutation-specific cancer drugs. With over 20 years in biopharmaceutical leadership - spanning Gilead Sciences, InterMune, Chimerix, and Global Blood Therapeutics where he led a $5.4B Pfizer acquisition - Choi brought deal-making, strategy, and operational depth to Alterome when he was appointed CEO in April 2025. Under his leadership, Alterome has advanced two first-in-class inhibitors into Phase 1/1b trials targeting KRAS and AKT1 E17K oncogenic drivers, backed by $231M in total funding including a $132M Series B.