Biotech launches with $165 million for cancer, autoimmune therapies

When Sanjaya Singh left Johnson & Johnson in 2021, his former colleague Peter Lebowitz paid close attention.

Singh had been a mainstay in the immunology and oncology fields, helping to invent the blockbuster drug Skyrizi and several other treatments during stints at Johnson & Johnson and Boehringer Ingelheim. “If Sanjaya Singh is doing something, you want to watch it,” Lebowitz said. Perhaps there would be a good opportunity for a partnership. But last year, Singh and venture capital firm Omega Funds approached him with a different idea: Join the new biotech they were building as its chief executive officer.

“It was a no-brainer,” Lebowitz said.