New Investment Boosts Rare Disease Drug Accelerator

Cydan, an orphan drug accelerator focused on developing therapies for rare genetic diseases, recently completed a $34 million financing round. With a core team that seeks to in-license promising experimental therapies, Cydan conducts preclinical development in-house and then, should circumstances warrant, spins out a company to conduct clinical development of promising assets. It’s first company Vtesse, which is developing drug for Niemann-Pick Disease Type C, has already been acquired. Its second company, Imara, is developing a treatment for sickle cell disease. We spoke to Chris Adams, CEO of Cydan, about its business model, how it differs from other similar approaches, and whether it provides a faster and cheaper way to get therapies to market.