Sep 19, 2024

Valo Health, the well-funded computational drug discovery and development startup launched by Flagship Pioneering, lost its interim CEO less than a year after he took the role, Endpoints News has learned. Graeme Bell is no longer steering the startup, according to a Flagship spokesperson. He vacated the position this month, according to his LinkedIn profile, after stepping up from CFO duties at the beginning of this year when founding CEO David Berry departed. Berry is now running a $300 million health tech and longevity VC firm with his brother. Graeme Bell Bell did not immediately respond to inquiries from Endpoints. The startup also made changes to its board. Pioneering Medicines President Paul Biondi is now executive chair of Valo and its acting CEO “until a new leader is appointed,” according to the Flagship spokesperson. Earlier this year, Flagship’s growth partner Chris Schade was named executive chair. Bell’s departure comes as Valo’s biggest clinical readout to date looms. The startup anticipates data from its Phase 2 Spectra trial in diabetic retinopathy by year’s end, it said in March. The placebo-controlled trial is testing OPL-0401, an oral small molecule that inhibits Rho kinase (ROCK) 1 and 2. It abandoned plans for a mid-stage trial of another drug candidate last year. Paul Biondi Valo, which launched out of Flagship in 2019, is one of multiple computational and AI-driven biotech startups in a class that has started to present key mid-stage clinical tests. The Moderna incubator has been placing increasing emphasis on AI in drug discovery and development. The startup almost went public. In 2021, Valo attempted to ride the blank-check wave but didn’t follow through on the proposed combination with a Khosla Ventures special purpose acquisition company, which was set to value it at $2.8 billion. It’s raised more than $450 million from Flagship, Koch Dis­rup­tive Tech­nolo­gies and other investors. Valo has made a few acquisitions and last year inked a cardiometabolic deal with Novo Nordisk that could provide billions of dollars in downstream payments.