woburn-massachusetts
(5)
The Woburn Pedal Nerds Who Turned a Spare DSP Chip Into a Cult
A six-person shop of chip engineers and sound obsessives spent 20 years making effects pedals that other companies would later copy. Then Ernie Ball came knocking.
Neurogastrx, Inc.
Neurogastrx is a Woburn, Massachusetts biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for gastrointestinal disorders rooted in the enteric nervous system. Its lead candidate, NG101, is an oral, peripherally acting dopamine D2 receptor antagonist (a proprietary mesylate salt of metopimazine) in late-stage development for gastroparesis and for the nausea and vomiting that limit GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs. Backed by roughly $105-125M from OrbiMed, 5AM Ventures and venBio, the company reported Phase 2 data in 2025 showing sizable reductions in GLP-1-induced nausea and vomiting.
Vertero Therapeutics, Inc.
Vertero Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company in Woburn, Massachusetts, developing oral small-molecule drugs for neurodegenerative diseases by targeting causative drivers in the body's periphery - primarily the gut - rather than only the brain. Formerly Axial Therapeutics, the company rebranded as Vertero in October 2025. Its lead candidate, VT-5006, is a gut-selective small molecule for Parkinson's disease that targets CsgA, a bacterial protein linked to protein aggregation and neuroinflammation, and is entering Phase 1 trials.
Stewart Campbell
A. Stewart Campbell, PhD, is the CEO of Vertero Therapeutics, the Woburn, Massachusetts biotech formerly known as Axial Therapeutics. A medicinal chemist by training with more than 30 years in drug discovery, he runs a company built on an unusual bet: that the road to treating Parkinson's disease starts in the gut, not the brain. Campbell joined in 2017, took the top job in February 2021, engineered the 2025 rebrand from Axial to Vertero, and is steering the lead candidate VT-5006, a gut-selective small molecule, into its first clinical trials. He is a co-inventor on more than 20 patent families, including the foundational patents behind the approved graft-versus-host disease drug Rezurock.
VEIR
VEIR is a Woburn, Massachusetts company commercializing high-temperature superconducting power lines that move 5 to 10 times more electricity than conventional cables at the same voltage and footprint. Its key breakthrough is a passive, evaporative liquid-nitrogen cooling system that keeps superconductors cold without heavy machinery. Founded in 2019 out of Breakthrough Energy Ventures research, VEIR targets utilities, renewable developers, and increasingly the power-hungry AI data center market. It closed a $75M Series B in January 2025 led by Munich Re Ventures, with backing from Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund.