BridgeBio Enters Separate Collaborations with University of Colorado, Salk Institute

Rare Daily Staff

BridgeBio Pharma said it entered into separate collaborations with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and the Salk Institute to develop therapies for people with genetic diseases.

The agreements represent an effort by BridgeBio to move away from traditional one-off interactions between drug development companies and research institutions and formalize deep collaborative relationships with academic researchers who work to understand the mechanisms of genetically driven conditions and how we can best treat patients by targeting the disease source.  

“BridgeBio is focused on partnering with leading academic institutions to accelerate promising research into clinical studies, with a range of therapeutic modalities such as biologics, gene therapies, and small molecules,” said Neil Kumar, founder and CEO of BridgeBio.

The collaboration with University of Colorado follows an eight-month pilot collaboration. Under the new, expanded collaboration, BridgeBio will support early-discovery research already underway in CU Anschutz labs and will accelerate promising therapies into the clinic to develop and commercialize therapies for patients.

“This collaboration represents a new model between academia and the pharmaceutical industry. It provides all CU Anschutz faculty with the opportunity to translate cutting edge research in genetic science to patients with unmet needs,” said Kimberly Muller, executive director of CU Innovations, a biomedical hub for industry partners, entrepreneurs, and investors to partner with CU researchers. “BridgeBio is uniquely suited as a collaborator as they combine a novel drug discovery platform, with the processes needed to advance multiple individual therapies simultaneously.”

Separately BridgeBio entered a three-year collaboration agreement Salk Institute to move academic discoveries in genetically driven diseases toward therapeutic applications. Under the partnership, BridgeBio will help fund research programs from Salk’s cancer research, with the eventual goal of developing new therapeutics for patients in need.

“Salk is known for its outstanding research, in particular in the field of oncology, so we are excited to enter into this partnership with BridgeBio to advance our discoveries and help develop next-generation therapies,” says Salk Vice President and Chief Science Officer Martin Hetzer. “The partnership represents an excellent opportunity for academic research to reach new potential in the clinical setting.”

Photo: Neil Kumar, founder and CEO of BridgeBio