Ex­clu­sive: Spark co-founder launch­es new CNS gene ther­a­py biotech with $54M

Jang-Ho Cha had no in­ter­est in leav­ing his post at No­var­tis, where he led trans­la­tion­al med­i­cine for the phar­ma gi­ant’s work in neu­ro­science.

But in the sum­mer of 2022, he re­ceived a call from a leader in the field of gene ther­a­py: Bev­er­ly David­son, co-founder of Spark Ther­a­peu­tics and di­rec­tor of the Cen­ter for Cel­lu­lar and Mol­e­c­u­lar Ther­a­peu­tics at Chil­dren’s Hos­pi­tal of Philadel­phia. She formed a biotech based on ex­cit­ing vec­tor cap­sid work com­ing out of her lab and want­ed to see if Cha would join. The two had been friends for two decades, and giv­en how much he ad­mired her sci­en­tif­ic rig­or, he de­cid­ed to lis­ten to her pitch.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER