Fauna Bio

Fauna Bio is a biotechnology company founded in 2018 by Dr. Ashley Zehnder (CEO), Dr. Linda Goodman (CTO), and Dr. Katharine Grabek (CSO). The three scientists met at Stanford, combining their distinct expertise in veterinary science, computational biology, and hibernation genomics to establish the company. Zehnder, a veterinarian with a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Stanford, brings experience in translational science at the intersection of animal and human health. Goodman holds a Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics from Harvard and specializes in comparative mammalian genomics, having previously worked at the Broad Institute and Stanford. Grabek earned her Ph.D. in Human Medical Genetics and focuses on the molecular underpinnings of hibernation.

The company's core business is leveraging comparative genomics and artificial intelligence to discover new therapeutic targets for human diseases. It operates in the biopharmaceutical market, analyzing the biology of animals with extreme traits, such as hibernation, to uncover protective mechanisms that can be translated into human therapies. The business model centers on its proprietary AI-driven discovery platform, initially named Convergence™ and now evolved into Fauna Brain™. This platform integrates genomic data from hundreds of mammal species with biomedical knowledge graphs to identify and validate novel drug targets. Revenue is generated through strategic collaborations and partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies. A significant milestone is a multi-year agreement with Eli Lilly, potentially worth up to $494 million, to discover new treatments for obesity. The company has also engaged in a research collaboration with Novo Nordisk focused on obesity.

Fauna Bio’s main offering is its drug discovery engine, which rapidly identifies and prioritizes therapeutic candidates. The Fauna Brain™ platform functions as a multi-agent AI system that automates complex research tasks, including target scoring and evidence synthesis. It utilizes a vast biobank and genomic dataset from 452 species, including the 13-lined ground squirrel, to find genes and pathways associated with disease resistance. This approach allows the company to explore therapeutic areas such as heart failure, neuroprotection, metabolism, and retinal diseases. One lead candidate, Faun1083, derived from hibernation physiology, has shown promise in preclinical models for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The platform's efficiency significantly reduces the time and cost of early-stage R&D, enabling the rapid evaluation of thousands of potential drug targets.

Keywords: comparative genomics, drug discovery, artificial intelligence, animal models, hibernation biology, therapeutic targets, biotechnology, human health, obesity treatment, heart failure, neuroprotection, metabolic diseases, AI platform, preclinical research, Eli Lilly partnership, multi-species omics, genetic resistance, biomedical knowledge graph, drug development, computational biology, translational science