BioCentury
ARTICLE | Emerging Company Profile

Exosome exploitation

How Codiak plans to use exosomes to treat and diagnose cancers

November 23, 2015 8:00 AM UTC

Fresh off his tenure as head of R&D for Biogen Inc., Douglas Williams opted to co-found Codiak BioSciences Inc. to exploit exosomes to diagnose cancer without the need for sequencing, and to extend the technology to therapeutic uses.

The newco debuted last week with an undisclosed first tranche of more than $80 million in committed series A and B financing, and an exclusive license to technology covering exosome-based biomarkers and therapeutics from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Its lead product is a blood-based diagnostic for pancreatic cancer based on a biomarker that can detect early disease, giving patients a shot at potentially curative surgery. ...