Aditum Bio, Co-Founded by Novartis Veterans Joe Jimenez and Dr. Mark Fishman, forms Second Company

Tempero Bio to develop drug candidate aimed at treating neurological diseases

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Nov 02, 2020, 07:00 ET

OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Aditum Bio, the biotech investment firm co-founded in 2019 by former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez and former President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) Dr. Mark Fishman, today announced the formation of Tempero Bio, a portfolio company developing a new neuroscience drug for the treatment of substance use disorders and anxiety, often neglected fields in drug development, to help address significant treatment gaps for patients. Tempero Bio is being formed in partnership with Sosei Heptares, the Japan-listed biopharmaceutical company, from which the drug, TMP-301, was in-licensed.

Tempero Bio is the second independent company launched by Aditum Bio, whose mission is to give large patient populations access to medicines which otherwise may not be developed. To speed these drugs to market, Aditum Bio utilizes a Silicon Valley-inspired model, creating an individual "spin-out" company to implement Phase I and Phase II clinical trials. The "spin-out" structure enables a nimble, start-up culture with its own dedicated team of managers. "Our goal is to take drug candidates with enormous potential and accelerate those drugs through Phase II, helping to bring life changing treatments to patients in need more quickly," said Joe Jimenez, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Aditum Bio. Dr. Mark Fishman, Co-Founder and Chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Boards added, "By focusing Aditum Bio on the translational medicine phase of drug development, we are able to rapidly move pre-clinical candidates into human trials, to get an early read on their safety and efficacy."

Aditum Bio uses data, software and technology to help bring innovative medicines through the clinical trial phase. The company has partnered with TrialSpark, a technology driven research company that can complete clinical trials faster and at a lower cost than traditional trials. TrialSpark partners with doctors to create trial sites within their existing practices. Their digital platform enables faster patient recruitment, together with common data entry and analysis across sites which leads to speed, quality, and standardization.

Aditum Bio is taking a new approach to healthcare: one which combines behavior modification with the pharmaceuticals to create a better patient outcome. Each therapeutic will be supported by a digital device such as a mobile app, which engages with the patient to help them through their treatment journey. This allows scalable patient support enabled by technology, and can help improve key treatment challenges such as adherence.

Anxiety and addiction rates have both increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) reporting that Americans are now 3 time more likely to report anxiety symptoms than in 2019, and that many Americans are consuming more alcohol or drugs due to the pandemic. TMP-301 is a mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator (NAM). Research has shown that metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGlurs) play a substantial role in numerous central nervous system diseases and psychiatric disorders by helping to control glutamate activity in the brain.

About Aditum Bio
Aditum Bio is committed to improving public health by accelerating R&D in disease areas with large patient populations, where medical innovation can have a huge impact. With a Silicon-Valley inspired model, Aditum Bio in-licenses promising drug candidates and spins-out individual companies dedicated to bringing each candidate through Phase II clinical trials. In partnership with TrialSpark, Aditum Bio uses data, software and technology to help bring innovative medicines through the clinical trial phase more quickly and with lower costs than traditional pharmaceutical companies.

For more information, please visit www.aditumbio.com.

About TrialSpark
TrialSpark is a technology company that runs end-to-end clinical trials as an alternative to a traditional CRO. TrialSpark has built a technology platform that optimizes all aspects of a clinical trial, enabling faster trial completion, higher data quality, and a more patient-centric experience. TrialSpark also empowers doctors in the community setting to participate in clinical trials, unlocking the 99% of patients the industry has traditionally struggled to reach, accelerating recruitment rates, and democratizing access to clinical trials. TrialSpark is backed by leading investors such as Michael Moritz, John Doerr, Thrive Capital, and Sequoia Capital.

About Sosei Heptares
Sosei Heptares (4565:JP) is an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from our proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. The company is advancing a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology and inflammatory diseases. Sosei Heptares has established partnerships with some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Genentech (Roche), Novartis, Pfizer and Takeda and additionally with multiple emerging technology companies. Sosei Heptares is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan with corporate and R&D facilities in Cambridge, UK. For more information, please visit www.soseiheptares.com.

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SOURCE Aditum Bio