Six months after getting off a $50 million series A round, Atlas Venture-incubated startup Dyne Therapeutics has hired its full-time leader.
Joshua Brumm, formerly chief financial officer and chief operating officer at microbiome biotech Kaleido, becomes Dyne's president and chief after his former company gained a $100 million IPO earlier this year.
The company came out of stealth in April and is looking to treat patients with rare forms of muscle diseases, getting off a $50 million series A with executives out of Amgen, Editas Medicine, Merck and Sarepta Therapeutics at the helm.
Dyne is using its so-called FORCE platform of antibody conjugates designed to deliver nucleic acids and other molecules for the treatment of serious muscle diseases.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company told FierceBiotech back in the spring that its cash haul would: “Support our efforts to advance our lead program, DM1, through further preclinical studies and toward the clinic, and to make further progress toward identifying development candidates for additional programs. In addition, we intend to enhance our internal capabilities through key hires and investment in our technology platform.”
Dyne's lead programs are designed to knock down gene expression for the treatment of rare, monogenic neuromuscular diseases; it is also developing therapeutics for patients with cardiac and smooth muscle diseases.
The biotech will initially focus on myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), a rare inherited disorder that causes muscle weakness and other life-limiting complications. There are currently no disease-modifying treatments for DM1, which affects about 40,000 people in the U.S. alone.
The company started life with Romesh Subramanian, who co-founded RaNA Therapeutics (now Translate Bio) as CEO; he now becomes chief scientific officer as Brumm takes the reins.
“Josh brings extraordinary skills and experience to further our mission of creating life-transforming therapies for patients with serious muscle diseases,” said Jason Rhodes, partner with Atlas Venture and Dyne founder and executive chair.
“This positions us strongly to pursue the next phase of growth and product development, and we are thrilled to have him joining us.”
“Dyne’s FORCE therapeutic platform achieves a unique combination of tissue-specific delivery, high potency and tolerability to enable a broad product pipeline,” added Brumm. “I look forward to working closely with the board and talented team at Dyne to maximize the potential of our platform by advancing our pipeline and exploring new partnerships.”