Ex-Al­ler­gan CEO David Py­ott backs a biotech start­up along­side Take­da, PhI tri­al set to launch

David Py­ott has a new gig to add to his post-Al­ler­gan CV. Py­ott and Take­da co-led a $13 mil­lion start­up round for Bion­iz, an Irvine, CA-based de­vel­op­er which just had its first IND ap­proved.

Bion­iz is build­ing a pep­tide plat­form based on block­ing par­tic­u­lar cy­tokines that can trig­ger dis­ease. It has two lead pro­grams, BNZ-1 and BNZ-2, with two com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent dis­ease tar­gets. BNZ-1 is aimed at HTLV-1 As­so­ci­at­ed Myelopa­thy (HAM), an or­phan dis­ease, and for cer­tain T-cell leukemias. The pre­clin­i­cal BNZ-2 tar­gets cy­tokines IL15/IL21 for celi­ac dis­ease and oth­er im­muno-in­flam­ma­to­ry dis­or­ders in the GI tract.

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