On July 16, 2025 Quetzal Therapeutics, a newly formed biopharmaceutical company, reported its official launch with $50 million of committed capital. Founded to address urgent unmet needs in rare and life-threatening diseases, Quetzal brings together a team of seasoned executives, scientific pioneers, and biotech & pharmaceutical veterans committed to delivering transformative therapies to patients around the world.

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At the core of Quetzal’s mission is a belief that cutting-edge science, guided by proven leadership, can redefine what’s possible in treatment for conditions like Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia ("APL") and invasive infections. The company has formed around a multi-asset pipeline, initially including:

QTX-2101: A novel oral arsenic trioxide therapy for the treatment of APL expected to enter Phase III clinical trials by late 2025, supported by encouraging comparative pharmacokinetic data from a Phase 1b trial sponsored by Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
QTX-2102, a next-generation antifungal and antiparasitic therapy in preclinical development, designed to improve efficacy while minimizing toxicity.
Built on Leadership Excellence
Quetzal is led by an executive team with deep expertise in drug development, clinical strategy, and operational execution. "Our team was brought together by a shared conviction: that patients with rare diseases deserve the same urgency and innovation as those with more common conditions," said Usman Ahmed, CEO. "Quetzal Therapeutics is built to deliver on that promise with the right science, the right strategy, and the right people."

Usman Ahmed, CEO & Chairman – A proven leader with over two decades of leadership in pharmaceuticals and start-up innovation. During his tenure at Nexus Pharmaceuticals, Usman led the execution of complex transactions, spearheaded operational improvements, and championed cost efficiencies in the highly specialized and challenging field of specialty and generic injectables.

Dr. Sridhar Desikan, Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer – An industry veteran with 28 years of experience in NCE and generics development. Sridhar began his career at Novartis Pharmaceuticals and subsequently worked at DuPont Pharma, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Dr. Reddy’s, and most recently at Nexus Pharmaceuticals as Chief Scientific Officer. Sridhar holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and has accreditations from Harvard Medical School’s HMX Pro program.

Sara Mathews, Vice President Program Leadership – With nearly 15 years of experience in the biotech industry, Sara is a seasoned asset leader with a proven track record of bringing cross-functional teams together and leading novel oncology therapeutics through global clinical programs from IND filing through late-stage development, filing preparation, and commercial launch planning.

Christina Liwski, General Counsel & CHRO – With over a decade of diverse and sophisticated legal experience, Christina brings deep legal acumen to the team. Christina’s experience spans multiple practice areas, including transactions and litigation. She most recently served as Assistant General Counsel at Nexus Pharmaceuticals, LLC and is admitted to practice in Illinois, Massachusetts, and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Guided by an Accomplished Board of Directors
The company’s Board of Directors features industry leaders with a track record of building, funding, and guiding successful companies:

Aman Ahmed – With nearly a decade of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, Aman brings deep expertise in sales operations, DEA and FDA regulatory compliance, international sales, and therapeutic portfolio management.

Dr. Jonathan Cheng – Dr. Jonathan Cheng is a physician-scientist and oncology drug development expert with a distinguished career across both industry and academia. As Chief Medical Officer at Systimmune, he leads the clinical development of a diverse pipeline of novel therapeutics, including innovative antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and the company’s first-in-class EGFR-HER3 bispecific ADC currently in Phase 3 trials.

Todd Chermak, R.Ph., Ph.D – Todd Chermak is a life sciences executive with 30 years of experience spanning the biopharmaceutical, diagnostics, and nutrition industries. He currently serves as Senior Vice President and Global Business Head of Immunology and Proteomics at CellCarta.

Mike Warmuth – Mike Warmuth is currently working on various Boards: for profit, academic, and not-for-profit. From 2018 to 2023 Mr. Warmuth worked for EW Healthcare as an Operating Partner in their New York office. Prior to EW, Mr. Warmuth spent 30 years at Abbott in various senior executive capacities, where he led multiple divisions and business units.

Strategic Talent Acquisition Partnership
Quetzal Therapeutics proudly acknowledges the role of Heidrick & Struggles, a premier global leadership advisory firm, in identifying and recruiting Dr. Jonathan Cheng to the company’s Board of Directors. Their expertise and commitment to excellence were instrumental in securing a highly respected thought leader whose insight will help shape Quetzal’s long-term scientific and clinical strategy.

For more information, please visit: www.quetzaltx.com
Media Contact:
[email protected]

(Press release, Quetzal Therapeutics, JUL 17, 2025, View Source [SID1234664145])

On July 17, 2025 Novartis reported Second Quarter and Half Year 2025 financial results (Presentation, Novartis, JUL 17, 2025, View Source [SID1234654547]).

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On July 17, 2025 MOMA Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing a new generation of precision therapeutics, reported that the first patient has been dosed in its Phase 1 clinical trial to assess the safety and tolerability of MOMA-341, a potent and selective Werner helicase inhibitor with a novel chemical scaffold (Press release, MOMA Therapeutics, JUL 17, 2025, View Source [SID1234654436]).

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MOMA-341 is being developed as a monotherapy and in combination with chemotherapy or immunotherapy for the treatment of advanced or metastatic solid tumors that exhibit high microsatellite instability (MSI-H) and/or DNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR), including colorectal, gastric and endometrial cancers. The fact that Werner helicase is required for survival of MSI-H/dMMR tumor cells makes it a promising emerging drug target. MOMA anticipates an initial readout of monotherapy data in mid-2026.

"We are proud to enter the clinic for the second time in less than a year, with initial readouts for both MOMA-341 and MOMA-313, our novel Polθ helicase inhibitor, expected in early-to- mid 2026," said Asit Parikh, M.D., Ph.D., chief executive officer of MOMA. "Given that MOMA-341’s novel chemical scaffold confers excellent target coverage, we are eager to evaluate its best-in-class potential for patients through this Phase 1 study."

About the MOMA-341 Phase 1 Trial

The Phase 1 clinical trial is a global multi-center, open-label dose escalation and dose optimization study (NCT06974110) designed to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and preliminary clinical activity of MOMA-341 as an orally administered single agent or combination therapy with either the chemotherapy agent irinotecan or immunotherapy. Adult participants must have unresectable advanced or metastatic microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) or DNA mismatch repair deficiency (dMMR) solid tumors.

About the KNOMATIC platform

MOMA-341 and MOMA-313, were discovered and developed through the application of MOMA’s KNOMATIC platform. The KNOMATIC platform integrates deep structural insights, advanced hit-finding technologies and computation-enabled lead optimization to accelerate discovery of novel therapeutics targeting families of highly dynamic proteins, such as ATPases and GTPases.

On July 17, 2025 Janux Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: JANX) (Janux), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a broad pipeline of novel immunotherapies by applying its proprietary technology to its Tumor Activated T Cell Engager (TRACTr) and Tumor Activated Immunomodulator (TRACIr) platforms, reported that it will host a virtual R&D Day at 1:30 PM PT on Thursday, July 24, 2025 (Press release, Janux Therapeutics, JUL 17, 2025, View Source [SID1234654435]).

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The event will include a presentation from management highlighting product candidates identified from its preclinical pipeline to move into clinical trials. These previously undisclosed preclinical programs utilize Janux’s expertise and platform technologies to potentially address significant unmet medical needs.

Event Information

To join the webcast, please visit this link, or the Events & Presentations page of the Investors section on the Company’s website at View Source A replay of the webcast will be archived and available following the event.

Participant Dial-In Numbers:
USA / International +1 (646) 307-1963
USA – Toll-Free (800) 715-9871
Conference ID 9235403

Janux’s TRACTr and TRACIr Pipeline

Janux’s first clinical candidate, JANX007, is a TRACTr that targets prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) and is being investigated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in adult patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Janux’s second clinical candidate, JANX008, is a TRACTr that targets epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and is being studied in a Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of multiple solid cancers including colorectal carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, non-small cell lung cancer, renal cell carcinoma, small cell lung cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and triple-negative breast cancer. We are also generating a number of additional TRACTr and TRACIr programs for potential future development, some of which are at development candidate stage or later. We are currently assessing priorities in our preclinical pipeline.

On July 17, 2025 Ajax Therapeutics, Inc. and Schrödinger, Inc. (Nasdaq: SDGR) reported an expansion of their exclusive research collaboration to include a new Janus kinase (JAK) target (Press release, Ajax Therapeutics, JUL 17, 2025, View Source [SID1234654434]). The partnership was established in 2019 with a goal of leveraging Schrödinger’s advanced computational platform and Ajax’s structural biology insights to develop a pipeline of novel molecules, with a focus on JAK inhibitors. Ajax’s lead candidate from the collaboration, AJ1-11095, is a potential first-in-class Type II JAK2 inhibitor currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical study for the treatment of myelofibrosis.

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"We’re excited to expand our longstanding research collaboration with Schrödinger," stated Martin Vogelbaum, chief executive officer of Ajax Therapeutics. "Given our teams’ history of success in creating more selective and potent JAK2 inhibitors, we expect to take a similar approach to this new JAK target with the goal of generating a new class of inhibitors that extend beyond oncology indications to include inflammatory and autoimmune disorders."

"Our collaboration with Ajax and the progress of AJ1-11095 demonstrates the power of combining our world-leading computational platform at scale with Ajax’s novel structural biology insights," stated Ramy Farid, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Schrödinger. "We are really pleased with the progress our teams have made over the course of this partnership, and we look forward to working with the Ajax team on this new JAK family target."

Abnormal JAK signaling is a key driver in myeloproliferative neoplasms, including myelofibrosis, as well as in inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. In collaboration with Schrödinger, Ajax is leveraging advanced computational methods and structural biology insights to develop next-generation inhibitors with the potential for greater selectivity and deeper, more durable responses compared to existing JAK inhibitors.

Under the terms of the amended agreement, Ajax and Schrödinger will collaborate on the discovery of the development candidate, and Ajax will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization. Schrödinger is eligible to receive discovery and development milestones similar to the terms of the original agreement. Schrödinger is also eligible to receive sales milestones and single-digit royalties on net sales of any products emerging from the additional target.

In 2024, Ajax completed an oversubscribed $95 million Series C financing, in which Schrödinger participated as a continuing investor. Schrödinger was a co-founder of Ajax and maintains an equity stake in the company.

About AJ1-11095

AJ1-11095 was designed using structure-based drug design and computational methods at scale to selectively bind the Type II conformation of the JAK2 kinase to provide greater efficacy with disease modification compared to all currently approved JAK2 inhibitors, including ruxolitinib, which bind the Type I conformation of JAK2. AJ1-11095 has been shown in preclinical studies to reverse marrow fibrosis, reduce mutant allele burden, and maintain efficacy against MPN cells that become resistant to chronic Type I JAK2 inhibition. AJ1-11095 is currently in a Phase I study for patients with MF who have been failed by a Type1 JAK2 inhibitor. Further details about the study can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov.