Ex-MD An­der­son chief De­Pin­ho is help­ing launch an­oth­er biotech — and he's stick­ing with fa­mil­iar ground

Years af­ter co-found­ing SINE-fo­cused Karyopharm and stir­ring up con­tro­ver­sy at MD An­der­son, Ronald De­Pin­ho is help­ing un­cloak a new biotech tar­get­ing solute car­ri­er trans­porter pro­teins — and Karyopharm’s for­mer head of chem­istry is lead­ing the charge.

Nir­ogy Ther­a­peu­tics emerged from stealth mode on Tues­day with a $16.5 mil­lion Se­ries A round and plans to hit the clin­ic by 2022. The fi­nanc­ing should be enough to car­ry the start­up’s lead pro­gram, a small mol­e­cule lac­tate trans­port in­hibitor, through Phase I, CEO Vin­cent San­danaya­ka said.

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