#97 - Synthetic scientists, spiral peptides & space servers
The coffee break biotech roundup, by SomX.
Hello, my fellow hypothesis generators,
This week, Cyclana Bio recruits its first endometriosis patients, Parabilis heads for the public markets with spiral-shaped peptides, DeepMind and Edison are each building an AI scientist, Daiichi lines up five pivotal ADC readouts, and Cowboy Space Corporation raises $275M to launch data centres into orbit.
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🩸 Cyclana Bio granted Health Research Authority approval and recruits first patients for clinical observational study in endometriosis (NewsMedical): The Cambridge biotech has secured HRA and ethics approval for a 500-patient observational study, running across two NHS sites, using patient biopsies and donated menstrual fluid to build 3D in vitro models of endometriosis. Comparing tissue-level dynamics in healthy women against those with the condition, it aims to uncover the disease’s underlying biology, identify druggable targets, and develop patient stratification tools.
Our take: Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women, takes an average of eight years to diagnose, and has no cure – a research gap that reflects how routinely women's pain has been dismissed and deprioritised. The progressive disease can affect every stage of a woman's life, and yet the biological foundations needed to direct drug development have simply never been properly established. Cyclana’s tissue-first methodology is a rare attempt to fill that gap.
🧬 After raising $800M, Parabilis seeks an IPO to pursue ‘undruggable’ targets (BioPharma Dive): Founded as FogPharma in 2015, the Boston biotech enters the public markets with early clinical data in hand and a potential $2B Regeneron deal behind it. Its Helicons – spiral-shaped peptides designed to reach cancer-driving proteins beyond the grasp of conventional drugs – have shown early promise in desmoid tumours, with Phase 3 planning underway and ambitions stretching into more common cancers.
Our take: FOG-001 targets the β-catenin/TCF transcription factor interaction – one of the canonical undruggable problems in oncology. Transcription factors have no obvious binding pocket for small molecules, which is why the field has largely given up on them. Helicons mimic the alpha-helical structures proteins use to interact with each other, effectively picking the lock from the inside. If that holds beyond desmoid tumours, the addressable market is considerably larger than the IPO filing suggests.
🤖 Google DeepMind and Edison are building the AI Scientist (GEN): Two independently developed systems that automate the scientific method have landed in Nature – both built to generate, test, and refine hypotheses using AI. DeepMind’s Gemini-powered Co-Scientist generated hypotheses across drug repurposing, target discovery, and antimicrobial resistance, while Edison’s Robin went a step further – proposing a glaucoma drug for dry age-related macular degeneration and validating it in patient-derived cells. Edison is now deploying its newer system, Kosmos, with Incyte.
Our take: The promise is an AI capable of closing the loop between hypothesis and validation. Robin’s most interesting result is the identification of KL001 – a circadian clock modulator – as a candidate for macular degeneration: a connection entirely absent from existing literature. This suggests that the real value of AI may not be speed, but the ability to surface biological links that human researchers would never think to look for.
💸 Daiichi emerges from bruising 2 years with vision for cracking cancer’s big leagues (BioSpace): After a bruising run – a collapsed HER3 candidate, a narrowed Datroway approval, and $850M in manufacturing charges – Daiichi is betting five pivotal ADC readouts in its 2027 financial year will catapult it into the top tier of oncology. The targets range from small cell lung cancer to platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, each forecast at $2-6B in peak sales.
Our take: The ambition is understandable – Enhertu proved Daiichi can build a genuinely transformative ADC, and the pipeline has real candidates in small cell lung cancer and platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The five pivotal readouts due in 2027 carry a $2-6B peak sales forecast apiece – optimistic figures from a company that has had to learn, rather painfully, the distance between projection and outcome.
And finally…
🛰️ How Robinhood cofounder Baiju Bhatt plans to put data centers in space (Forbes): Cowboy Space Corporation, founded by Robinhood cofounder Baiju Bhatt, has raised $275M at a $2B valuation to build orbital data centres – 20,000 of them, per an FCC filing. The pitch rests on constant solar power and housing 1MW of chips inside the rocket’s upper stage, rather than a separate satellite, with a first launch targeted for end-2028.
Our take: Google, SpaceX, Starcloud, Axiom, Lumen Orbit, and now Cowboy – orbital data centres went from concept to stampede in under two years, all fleeing the same terrestrial backlash over power and water that the AI boom keeps feeding. The central unsolved problem is heat: 1MW of chips generates enormous amounts of it, and in space there is no air to dissipate it. Cowboy’s answer: using the rocket fairing as a giant radiator. (Inter)stellar stuff!
Tune in 🎧
🧬 Can we reverse ageing? NYT Magazine’s Susan Dominus unpacks recent breakthroughs in cellular rejuvenation science, including who is funding the research, and what it might mean for the $2 trillion longevity market.
🍄 Can Hue Believe It? Gerit Tolborg’s Quest for Pure Colour at Chromologics: The Chromologics CEO explains how fermentation-derived fungal pigments could replace synthetic food dyes – covering economics, regulatory hurdles, and the case for decentralising supply chains.
🤖 Trump’s Tech Posse in China; Who’s Winning in Musk v. Altman?; Hantavirus Conspiracy Theories: WIRED’s Uncanny Valley team covers Trump’s Silicon Valley-heavy China trip, the OpenAI nonprofit lawsuit, and the conspiracy theories swirling around hantavirus.
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🦾 27–28.05 | Digi-Tech Pharma & AI 2026 | London, UK: Pharma leaders and digital innovators converge on Kensington to chew over AI in drug discovery, real-world evidence, quantum computing, and the regulatory tangles that inevitably trail digital transformation.
🖥️ 08–12.06 | London Tech Week | London, UK: Europe's premier tech gathering – drawing innovators, investors and enterprise leaders to hear from the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, Isomorphic Labs and the UK government on what's next in tech.
🔬 10–12.06 | BioInference 2026 | St Andrews, UK: A three-day academic conference at Scotland’s oldest university, bringing together statisticians and biologists to tackle inference problems across epidemiology, genomics, spatial omics, and mathematical biology.
🩺 15–18.06 | HLTH Europe 2026 | Amsterdam, Netherlands: Europe’s biggest healthcare innovation gathering hauls 5,000+ leaders to Amsterdam, with one in three at C-suite level, to thrash out the continent’s healthcare headaches and opportunities.
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