Solve Therapeutics, Inc.

During his daughter’s wedding weekend last year, Mikael Dolsten was running through a flurry of emotions. He was thinking about the marriage, but also about starting a new biotech. The former Pfizer chief scientific officer called Craig Crews, the Yale professor and repeat biotech entrepreneur, once at noon, again at 6 p.m., and again at 9. “I’m thinking, ‘Isn’t your daughter getting married this weekend?'” Crews said in a joint interview with Dolsten. “That’s how Mikael works. His level of excitement is infectious.” The two had been talking for years, and during his time at Pfizer, they’d made a billion-dollar deal with Arvinas, a protein degrader biotech from Crews’ lab. Out of their wedding weekend conversations came a new startup, Quarry Thera, which has raised $32 million in a Series A from seed investor Yosemite, alongside Canaan Partners, F-Prime Capital and Lilly Ventures. Crews and Dolsten shared the news exclusively with Endpoints News in an interview. The startup is built on three emerging technologies from Crews’ lab based on induced proximity, a process that uses small molecule drugs to bring proteins closer together to, for example, help kill a cancer cell or force some other biological process to treat disease, Crews said. Research on the new technologies has not been published yet, he added. The induced proximity technology has led to a “paradigm shift in the oral small molecules space,” Dolsten said, describing it as a “rejuvenation” of the field. “Induced proximity has opened a similar avenue where small molecules can get much more sophisticated properties,” Dolsten said. In immunology, they hope to achieve cell-specific delivery that has been “a long desire in the small molecule world,” Dolsten said. And in oncology, they want to be able to “distinguish between malignant and normal tissues by some of these new technologies that allow you to give drugs with a much higher therapeutic window.” Quarry is the latest in Crews’ series of biotech creations. “They are natural progressions from my work with Arvinas, my work with Halda. We’re looking at new ways that we can exploit induced proximity,” he said. Halda, a startup focused on a “ hold and kill ” mechanism, was bought by Johnson & Johnson for $3.05 billion last week, and will give J&J a potential new class of medicines for prostate cancer and other areas. It is one of the largest Phase 1-stage biotech buyouts in recent memory. Crews is still chief scientific advisor to Halda but was not involved in the deal talks, he said. He will also be chief scientific advisor to Quarry Thera, which is based “right upstairs from Halda.” Quarry will look to forge partnerships with pharmaceutical companies while also building out an internal pipeline, Dolsten said. Crews and Dolsten will likely launch more biotechs together, including in areas such as sickle cell disease, the professor said. Help fueling that work is Yosemite , a VC firm led by Reed Jobs, the son of Apple’s Steve Jobs, who died of cancer. It was the seed investor in Quarry and has been a key supporter of Crews’ efforts. Jobs has dedicated the firm to “make cancer non-lethal within our lifetime” and has devoted funds to startups such as Azalea Therapeutics and Solve Therapeutics .

Solve Therapeutics will use an oversubscribed round to advance two clinical antibody-drug conjugates and build out its proprietary linker platform. \n A San Diego biotech has set out to solve the formula for best-in-class antibody-drug conjugates, raising $120 million with support from Big Pharma Merck & Co. to fuel its efforts.Solve Therapeutics’ new fundraise was led by oncology-focused VC Yosemite, with participation from new investors Abingworth and Merck, plus existing investors Alexandria Venture Investments and Citadel’s Surveyor Capital, among others.The $120 million round builds off a $75 million fundraise secured at the end of last year and brings Solve’s total capital raised to $321 million, according to a Nov. 17 release. The company is not classifying the round type, a spokesperson told Fierce. Solve will use the new oversubscribed round to advance its two clinical ADCs and build out its proprietary linker platform, dubbed CloakLink. The biotech has designed the platform to boost ADC stability and reduce payload hydrophobicity—which is the tendency to repel water and can impact the quality of an ADC—across a range of drug-to-antibody ratios.In theory, the resulting drug class will be defined by improved pharmacokinetics and plasma stability, plus lower toxicity, according to Solve.The biotech’s lead programs—coded SLV-154 and SLV-324—are both covered by CloakLink and are currently in phase 1 trials for patients with metastatic solid tumors.The two ADCs are also being used in tandem with Solve’s novel diagnostic platform that is supposed to allow for precise, noninvasive patient selection.  The new cash infusion will help Solve complete two phase 1b studies for the assets, while also expanding its operational capabilities, according to the release.“Solve is the next wave of ADC innovation,” Dan McHugh, Yosemite investor and Solve board member, said in the release. “By integrating therapeutic development with a novel diagnostic platform, Solve is pushing the boundaries of precision oncology and enabling a more personalized, effective approach to cancer care.”The biotech is led by co-founder and CEO Dave Johnson, who previously helped create and helmed ADC biotech VelosBio. The company was acquired by Merck in 2020 for $2.75 billion, with the pharma picking up ROR1-directed zilovertamab vedotin from the buyout.Johnson is joined by VelosBio and Acerta Pharma alum Brian Lannutti, who serves as Solve’s executive vice president of R&D. 

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solve Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing best-in-class antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for solid tumor malignancies, today announced it has raised $120 million in an oversubscribed and upsized financing to accelerate the development of its clinical pipeline and proprietary CloakLink™ linker platform. The round was led by Yosemite, with participation from Abingworth, Ally Bridge Group, B Capital, Balyasny Asset Management, Merck & Co., and SymBiosis, and existing investors Alexandria Venture Investments, AyurMaya Capital Management, DC Global Ventures, General Atlantic, and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company). This latest funding follows a $75 million financing completed in December 2024, bringing Solve’s total capital raised to $321 million. Solve Therapeutics was founded to develop next-generation ADCs capable of addressing unique challenges presented by solid tumors. Traditional ADCs often face limitations related to payload hydrophobicity, including sub-optimal pharmacokinetics and plasma stability, which can compromise safety and efficacy. Solve’s proprietary CloakLink™ technology was engineered to overcome these barriers by increasing ADC stability and decreasing ADC hydrophobicity across a broad range of drug-to-antibody ratios. The result is a class of ADCs with improved pharmacokinetics, enhanced plasma stability, and reduced toxicity, enabling improved therapeutic indices and overall performance. The company’s lead programs, SLV-154 and SLV-324, are currently in Phase 1 clinical trials in patients with solid tumors. Both utilize the CloakLink™ platform and targeting antibodies that are specifically engineered for superior ADC performance. The ADCs are paired with novel diagnostic approaches to enable precision patient selection. The new funding will support the completion of Phase 1b studies for both programs and expand the company’s operational capabilities as it advances toward later-stage clinical development. “We’re thrilled to partner with an outstanding syndicate of investors who share our vision for developing best-in-class ADCs,” said Dave Johnson, CEO & Co-Founder, Solve Therapeutics. “Since founding the company, we’ve built a differentiated platform that combines next-generation ADC engineering, a superior hydrophilic linker system, and novel patient-selection diagnostics. This investment syndicate represents a strong endorsement of our science, our team, and our mission to develop more effective and safer targeted therapies for patients with solid tumors.” “Solve is the next wave of ADC innovation,” said Dan McHugh, Investor at Yosemite and Solve Therapeutics board member. “By integrating therapeutic development with a novel diagnostic platform, Solve is pushing the boundaries of precision oncology and enabling a more personalized, effective approach to cancer care. Yosemite is excited to support the excellence and innovation demonstrated by this best-in-class team.” Founded by leaders behind VelosBio (acquired by Merck) and Acerta Pharma (acquired by AstraZeneca), Solve Therapeutics is applying decades of combined oncology and ADC expertise to build a pipeline of pioneering therapeutics and diagnostics targeting solid tumors with high unmet need. About Solve Therapeutics Solve Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a pipeline of next-generation ADCs and a novel diagnostic platform for solid tumors. With its proprietary CloakLink™ hydrophilic linker system and a focus on selectively expressed tumor antigens, Solve is engineering therapeutics designed to safely and effectively offer benefit to patients with life-threatening cancers. Its diagnostic approach offers the potential of precise, noninvasive patient selection. The company is based in San Diego, CA. For more information, visit www.solvetx.com.