Avila Therapeutics

About Avila Therapeutics

Avila Therapeutics, founded in 2006 as Conxcys by Drs. Juswinder “Jus” Singh and Roy Lobb, established itself as a clinical-stage biotechnology firm focused on developing targeted covalent drugs. The founding vision, conceived by Jus Singh, a computational chemist formerly with Biogen Idec, was to systematically design drugs that form a durable, irreversible bond with disease-causing proteins, a process termed "protein silencing". This approach was initially counter to industry dogma, which often viewed irreversible inhibitors as too risky.

The company's core technology was the Avilomics™ platform, a proprietary system that augmented drug discovery. This platform integrated informatics to identify target sites, a specialized chemistry library, and design tools to create covalent drugs that could precisely and resiliently shut down a protein's activity. This method offered benefits such as high selectivity and retained effectiveness against mutations. Avila's primary business was the discovery and development of a pipeline of novel drug candidates targeting cancer, viral infections, and autoimmune diseases. Its business model revolved around advancing these candidates through clinical trials and forming strategic partnerships with larger pharmaceutical companies.

A significant milestone was the development of AVL-292, an oral, highly-selective Bruton's tyrosine kinase (Btk) inhibitor for treating B-cell cancers and autoimmune diseases. By early 2012, this lead product candidate was in Phase I clinical testing. The company successfully raised $51 million in venture capital from a syndicate of investors including Abingworth, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Polaris Venture Partners, and the Novartis Option Fund. In January 2012, Celgene announced its acquisition of Avila Therapeutics for $350 million in cash upfront. The deal included potential milestone payments of up to $575 million related to the development of AVL-292 and other candidates from the Avilomics platform, bringing the total potential value to $925 million. The acquisition was completed in March 2012, integrating Avila's team and platform into Celgene's research and development division.