THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.,
Jan. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Amgen
(NASDAQ:AMGN) and BioLabs LA at the Lundquist Institute today
announced that Karma Biotechnologies has been awarded the second
Amgen Golden Ticket in Southern
California. Karma Biotechnologies will receive one year of
lab space at BioLabs LA at the Lundquist Institute (TLI) as well as
additional facility benefits and connections to Amgen's scientific
and business leaders.
The Amgen Golden Ticket winner was chosen by an internal
team of Amgen scientific leaders at a virtual pitch event. Five
finalists pitched their business plans before Amgen's internal
committee that evaluated the strength and novelty of their
scientific rationale, subject matter expertise and business plan
viability. This is the second of three Amgen Golden Tickets to
be awarded through 2023 to help accelerate life science start-ups
in Southern California.
Perspectives on announcement:
- "Amgen's partnership with BioLabs LA at the Lundquist Institute
is contributing to the acceleration of bioscience innovation in the
Los Angeles area, aligning with
our vision to progress the development of breakthrough therapies to
serve patients suffering from serious illness. We are enthusiastic
about the Xavine™ platform being developed by Karma
Biotechnologies, and look forward to engaging with the team as they
advance novel therapies to treat autoimmune diseases." –
Philip Tagari, vice president of
Therapeutic Discovery at Amgen
- "BioLabs LA at the Lundquist Institute is very pleased to
participate in another successful Golden Ticket round with Amgen, a
true pioneer in biotechnology. After seeing how well the first
awardee is performing, under Amgen's generous guidance, we are
excited to see the innovation that spurs from this year's winner,
Karma Biotechnologies. It is such an honor to be a part of the
collaborative network that is growing here in LA." - Lindsay Bourgeois, Site Director, BioLabs
LA
- "We are thrilled and deeply honored that the experts at Amgen
see the value and novelty of our Xavine™ tolerogenic vaccine
platform for treating and preventing autoimmunity and allergies.
Having access to the phenomenal resources at BioLabs LA and Amgen's
clinical development expertise will rapidly accelerate Karma's
R&D, and help us make a difference in patients' lives that much
sooner. Collaborations such as these have fueled an explosion in
the quality and quantity of biotech startups in the Los Angeles ecosystem in recent years, from
therapeutics to biomanufacturing to agricultural technology. Karma
is proud to be part of LA's vibrant, collaborative and growing
biotech ecosystem." - Andrew Gray,
PhD, Co-founder and CEO, Karma
Biotechnologies
Amgen supports life science start-ups through Golden Ticket
awards and affiliated engagement in other Biotech Innovative hubs,
including San Francisco,
Boston and Toronto. Karma Biotechnologies is the
26th Golden Ticket winner since program inception in
2014.
About Amgen
Amgen is committed to
unlocking the potential of biology for patients suffering from
serious illnesses by discovering, developing, manufacturing and
delivering innovative human therapeutics. This approach begins by
using tools like advanced human genetics to unravel the
complexities of disease and understand the fundamentals of human
biology.
Amgen focuses on areas of high unmet medical need and leverages
its expertise to strive for solutions that improve health outcomes
and dramatically improve people's lives. A biotechnology pioneer
since 1980, Amgen has grown to be one of the
world's leading independent biotechnology companies, has
reached millions of patients around the world and is developing a
pipeline of medicines with breakaway potential.
Amgen is one of the 30 companies that comprise the Dow Jones
Industrial Average and is also part of the Nasdaq-100 index. In
2021, Amgen was named one of the 25 World's Best Workplaces™ by
Fortune and Great Place to Work™ and one of the 100 most
sustainable companies in the world by Barron's.
For more information, visit www.amgen.com and follow
us on www.twitter.com/amgen.
About the Lundquist Institute: Research with reach™
The Lundquist Institute is an engine of innovation with a global
reach and a 69-year reputation of improving and saving lives. With
its new medical research building, its state-of-the-art incubator,
"BioLabs at the Lundquist," existing laboratory and support
infrastructure, and the development of a new 15-acre business tech
park, the Lundquist Institute serves as a hub for the Los Angeles area's burgeoning biotech scene.
The research institute has over 100 principal investigators (PhDs,
MDs, and MD/PhDs) working on more than 600 research studies,
including therapies for numerous, and often fatal orphan diseases.
Find out more at https://lundquist.org.
About BioLabs LA at the Lundquist
Institute
Encompassing the entire third floor of the
Lundquist Institute's new Medical Research Lab building, BioLabs LA
offers shared lab facilities designed for high-potential,
early-stage life since companies. BioLabs creates co-working
communities that pair premium, fully equipped and supported lab and
office space with unparalleled access for entrepreneurs to
networking, industry partners, and capital. Find out more
at https://www.biolabs.io/la.
About Karma Biotechnologies, Inc.
Karma
Biotechnologies is a Los Angeles
startup dedicated to solving autoimmunity, allergies, and food
sensitivities with our Xavine™ tolerogenic vaccine platform.
General immune suppression is still the standard of care for most
autoimmune disease patients; there is a critical unmet need to
develop antigen-specific therapies that inhibit only the
disease-causing rogue immune cells. To meet this need, Karma is
leveraging expertise in immunology and lipid nanoparticle
engineering to develop tolerogenic vaccines designed to elicit
antigen-specific immune tolerance in vivo. For more information,
visit www.karmabiotech.com.
CONTACT
Amgen, Thousand Oaks
Michael Strapazon, 805-313-5553
(media)
The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical
Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Keith B. Hoffman, Ph.D., (310)
974-9301, keith.hoffman@lundquist.org
BioLabs LA
Lindsay Bourgeois, (978)
852-1081, lbourgeois@biolabs.io
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SOURCE Amgen