Venture report: Arch, Foresite $1B AI play Xaira starting with Baker lab’s de novo biologics
Plus rounds for Rubedo, Flindr, Endeavor, SynOx and more
The $1 billion commitment by a large VC syndicate to launch AI-guided therapeutics developer Xaira is among the largest in history.
Arch Venture Partners and Foresite Capital are the lead investors in Xaira Therapeutics Inc., which is promising to integrate machine learning and data generation with its drug development engine. The company intends to advance antibody and protein design models created in the laboratory of David Baker at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Baker’s Institute for Protein Design (IPD) lab has been a powerhouse for innovation in protein modeling, and had already generated several spin outs, such as Icosavax Inc., which was recently acquired by AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NASDAQ:AZN), Outpace Bio Inc. and Vilya Inc...