Brian Gallagher

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a GSK company, is developing small molecule drugs that target the sirtuins, a family of seven enzymes associated with diseases of aging. Modulation of these enzymes offers the promise of drug discovery in multiple therapeutic areas. Sirtris was one of the pharmaceutical companies focused on the sirtuin platform and remains the innovative drug discovery. Preclinical research indicates that the sirtuins play important roles in pathways for multiple diseases of aging, including Type 2 Diabetes, as well as neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases. Sirtris researchers are working to translate this research into a potential new class of pharmaceuticals to treat diseases of aging, offering the ability for people to live longer, healthier lives. Sirtris has focused on developing many novel small molecule activators of SIRT1, the most studied member of the sirtuin family. These new chemical entities or NCEs are novel compounds that are chemically unrelated to resveratrol, a naturally occurring compound that was used as an early proof-of-concept for SIRT1 activation. Besides being structurally differentiated from resveratrol, the NCEs are more specific for the target SIRT1 and have improved drug-like properties. The company has completed several early stage translational clinical studies with the first generation NCEs and has several active clinical trials under way. Sirtris operates as an independent Discovery Performance Unit (DPU) within GSK and is located in Technology Square, Cambridge, Mass. Sirtris' culture mixes scientific curiosity with a dynamic, fast-paced environment, resembling its biotech roots while harnessing all of GSK's broad discovery, development, and commercialization capabilities. The company was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Alantos Pharmaceuticals Holding, Inc. manufactures bio-pharmaceutical products. The firm develops small molecule compounds for inflammatory cytokine pathways. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA.

CalciMedica, Inc. is a holding company, which engages in drug development. It discovers and develops novel small molecule drugs for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders and organ transplant rejection. The company was founded by Gonul Velicelebi, Kenneth Stauderman, Anjana Rao, Patrick Hogan, Stefan Feske, Michael Harpold, Tom Reed, and Jack Roos in December 2006 and is headquartered in La Jolla, CA.

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company, which engages in discovering, developing and commercializing medicines that are designed to leverage ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) to selectively silence genes that cause or contribute to disease. The firm uses its proprietary GalXC RNAi technology platform to build a pipeline in these therapeutic areas. The company was founded by Douglas M. Fambrough III, Mark A. Behlke, Roberto Guerciolini, James Craig Jenson, and John J. Rossi in October 2006 and is headquartered in Lexington, MA.

SpringLeaf Therapeutics, Inc. is creating innovative therapeutic modalities to address serious disease and elevate the quality of care for patients. SpringLeaf's technology is based on the convergence of materials science and medicine and is designed to enable and differentiate therapeutics. SpringLeaf was founded based on breakthrough science at MIT and is backed by leading investors including Excel Venture Management, Flybridge Capital Partners, North Bridge Venture Partners and SR One.

Nimbus Therapeutics LLC provides drug discovery research services. It is a computational technology-driven paradigm to rapidly advance a diverse pipeline of novel small molecule product candidates into clinical development. The company was founded by Bruce Lee Booth in 2009 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.