VC firm that backed Moderna has a new startup

The venture capital firm behind the coronavirus vaccine maker Moderna on Wednesday unveiled a new Cambridge biotech called Empress Therapeutics, a small startup that says it has created 15 drug molecules in less than two years and hopes to test them on a wide range of diseases. The venture firm Flagship Pioneering has pledged at least $50 million to Empress to develop small molecule drugs. Such medicines make up 90 percent of the pharmaceutical market and include common remedies like aspirin, penicillin, and antihistamines. Small molecule drugs have garnered less attention from biotechs in recent years than biologics, medicines that are manufactured or extracted from living organisms and consist of genetic materials or proteins. Biologics are more complex and less stable. They include revolutionary gene therapies that typically need to be administered through infusions or injections at a doctor’s office or a hospital. The most transformative biologics cost $1 million or more per patient. Empress says the genetic code that programs cells in the human body makes chemical compounds called metabolites that are a rich source of potential small molecule medicines. The company wants to use metabolites to make drugs through an approach Empress calls Chemilogics, a portmanteau of chemistry and biologics. Jason Park, chief executive and a cofounder of Empress and an operating partner at Flagship, said the firm has developed 15 drug candidates for a range of diseases, but will initially focus on autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. It plans to apply to regulators to start clinical trials within two years. The firm has appointed Murray McKinnon, a veteran executive who recently led Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ World Without Disease Accelerator, as chief scientific officer. He previously worked at Bristol Myers Squibb, and the pharmaceutical company that used to be called Glaxo Wellcome. — JONATHAN SALTZMAN