Watertown's Emerging Rare Blood Disorder Therapy Cluster, Warning Signs For Werewolf, and Fallout for Disc Medicines-Watertown Bio News RoundUp
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Before we jump into the Watertown biotech stories you may have missed while digging out from all the snow, we wanted to highlight our upcoming event next Thursday, March 10th Charting Watertown’s Life Science Future, in partnership with the Charles River Chamber of Commerce (Use code DNA for complementary registration). Excitingly, we have added Kelly Schick, Chief People Officer at C4 Therapeutics to the discussion panel. We hope to see you there!
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HHT therapies takes focus in Watertown
Last week, Tectonic Therapeutic (headquartered at the Linx Building) announced the successful dosing of the first participant in their Phase 1 healthy volunteer trial of TX2100, a fusion antagonist antibody being developed to treat Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT), the second most common genetic disorder in the world affecting approximately 1 in 5000 people. In patients with HHT, blood vessels do not always develop properly, leading to increased rates of blood vessel rupture and bleeding, which can cause serious or life threatening compilations depending on the location of the rupture. According to the company, TX2100 is designed to suppress the activation of the APJ receptor, which is activated during pathogenic blood vessel formation, like those formed in HHT. The company expects the top-line results from the clinical trial in Q4 2026.
Given Watertown’s life science depth, Tectonic isn’t the only company in the city working on an HHT therapy. Diagonal Therapeutics (headquartered at Arsenal Yards), raised a $125 million Series Bthis past January, and is using the proceeds to advance their lead asset DIAG723 into clinical trials in the first half of this year. Like TX2100, DIAG723 is a therapeutic antibody, but unlike TX2100 which is designed to block cell receptor signaling during diseased blood vessel formation, DIAG723 is designed to turn on cell receptors that have been turned off by genetic mutations. Specifically, DIAG723 aims to restore ALK1 signaling, which promotes healthy blood vessel formation. Since HHT can be caused by multiple different mutations, it is encouraging to have multiple therapeutic approaches under development to give patients options to best treat HHT based on their specific variant of the disease.
More Clinical Trial News: C4 Therapeutics (headquartered at the Linx Building) dosed the first patent in their Phase 2 MOMENTUM trial of Cemsidomide, a targeted protein degrader being developed for Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma.
Eyepoint Therapeutics (headquartered at the Riverworks Building) dosed the first patient in their Phase 3 COMO and CAPARI clinical trials of DURAVYU to treat Diabetic Macular Edema.
Werewolf Therapeutics in a cash crunch, in danger of De-listing, lays off staff
Werewolf Therapeutics (headquartered at the Arsenal on the Charles), announced on Thursday that it is searching strategic alternatives (including licensing deals, mergers, or sale of the company) to advance its disease platforms, which are based on using masked cytokines therapies to treat advanced cancers by engaging immune cells near tumors to attack the cancer cells. The Company has been under financial strain since December, when the company announced in its 2026 outlook that it only had cash on hand through the end of 2026 and would require additional funding to advance its lead WTX-124 and WTX-330 programs through future clinical trials . That day, their stock price fell below $1.00 a share, where it remains as of writing. On February 4th, the company received a notice of delisting from the Nasdaq stating that the company had 180 calendar days to raise its share price above $1.00, or it would be delisted from the stock exchange. To extend their cash runway, the board of directions on February 9th approved a 64% layoff of the company’s workforce. The board also disclosed that they had been trying to raise additional capital, but had been unable to do so. This news comes after a bright spot in November, when the FDA gave WTX-124 a fast track designation based on their early clinical trial results.
While we wait to see the outcome of Werewolf’s search for a buyer (putting them in the same holding pattern that Lyra Therapeutics entered last month), if your company is looking to hire, consider taking a look at the many qualified Werewolf scientists affected by the reduction in force.
Fallout from FDA decision: Disc lays off 20% of its staff
As we reported last month, the FDA failed to approve the application from Disc Medicine (headquartered at Arsenal on the Charles) for Bitopertin, a small molecule designed to treat erythropoietic protoporphyria, a rare genetic disease that causes pain when exposed to sunlight, opting to wait for the results of their Phase 3 Apollo trial, which is due by the end of the year. As a result of this delay, Disc announced as part of an SEC filing that they are laying off 20% of their workforce, primarily focused on the teams working to commercialize bitopertin. The Boston Business Journal has more details on the story.
Quick Updates
In the News
Fierce Biotech has more coverage of Werewolf.
People
Tectonic Therapeutic appointed François Nader, MD as Chair of their Board of Directors.
Foghorn Therapeutics (headquartered at 99 Coolidge Ave) appointed Ryan Maynard as Chief Financial Officer.
Eyepoint Pharmaceuticals appointed Michael Campbell as Chief Commercial Officer.
Blogs
Landmark Bio (headquartered at Arsenal on the Charles) released a blog post covering extracellular vesicles and their role as a therapeutic delivery vehicle.
