James McArthur

Cell Genesys is a development-stage biotechnology firm focuses on gene-modification technologies to treat cancer. The company's lead product technology is its GVAX vaccine platform. Cell Genesys is working on GVAX vaccines for lung, prostate, and pancreatic cancer, as well as for leukemia and multiple myeloma, another blood cancer. Its oncolytic viral therapy platform uses specially engineered adenoviruses (such as the common cold) to kill cancer cells; the firm's lead candidate from this platform targets prostate cancer.

Adheron Therapeutics, Inc. discovers and develops therapeutic drugs. The firm offers Cadherin-11 antagonists for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and fibrotic diseases including pulmonary fibrosis and skin fibrosis. The company was founded by David Lee, Michael B. Brenner, and David L. Castaldi in 2006 and is headquartered in Berkeley, CA.

Phylogix, Inc. develops therapeutic drugs. It conducts research on tissue protection and oncology. The firm develops drug candidates in preclinical development, called FRIL to protect cancer patients from the toxic side-effects of chemotherapy. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Waltham, MA

Cydan II, Inc. develops and commercializes drugs for orphan and diseases. The firm evaluates products for treating rare diseases with high unmet medical need to start multiple companies to develop such therapies. The company was founded by Cristina Csimma, James G. McArthur, Deborah S. Geraghty and Christoph M. Adams in 2013 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

Cydan LLC operates as an orphan drug accelerator that identifies and de-risks programs. The firm's model evaluates programs for treating rare diseases with unmet medical need and is aimed at creating new companies to develop those therapies. The company was founded by James G. McArthur in 2013 and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA.

The Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance provides patient registry services. The private company is based in Downingtown, PA.

Vtesse, Inc. provides novel drugs for life-threatening rare diseases. It developed VTS-270, a modified form of cyclodextrin that has been evaluated in preclinical and clinical studies at institutes within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to treat patients with Niemann-Pick Disease Type C (NPC). The firm is working with the NIH and other leading academic centers to advance clinical study of VTS-270 for NPC, and to conduct pre-clinical discovery and development of other novel drugs for NPC and other LSDs. The company was founded by Ben Machielse in 2015 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD.

NightstaRx Ltd. develops and commercializes therapies for retinal dystrophies. It offers retinal gene therapy that provides one-time cure for choroideremia (a rare inherited cause of blindness) and other retinal dystrophies. The company was founded by Robert MacLaren, Miguel Seabra, and Matthew During in January 2014 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.