Nine Square Therapeutics

Nine Square Therapeutics, Inc. operates as a biotechnology firm focused on discovering small molecule therapeutics for severe neurodegenerative and movement disorders. The company was established in 2020 as a spinout from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) by a group of its scientists in collaboration with the life sciences venture capital firm Apple Tree Partners (ATP). The founding team includes Matthew Jacobson, Ph.D., Steven Altschuler, Ph.D., and Lani Wu, Ph.D., all professors at UCSF, along with Spiros Liras, Ph.D., a venture partner at ATP who serves as interim CEO. The founders bring together deep expertise in computational chemistry, systems biology, and drug discovery, with backgrounds that span academia and previous biotech startups.

The company launched with a significant $50 million Series A funding commitment from its founding investor, ATP, to fuel its research and development efforts. This initial investment was followed by a $4.5 million research grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation in September 2023 to advance the development of novel treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD). The firm's business model is centered on internal drug discovery and the progression of proprietary candidates through preclinical and eventually clinical trials, targeting a market with a high unmet need for effective treatments.

Nine Square Therapeutics employs a proprietary platform that integrates machine-learning-enabled phenotypic cell profiling with computational chemistry, biophysics, and biology. This approach aims to identify and validate novel drug targets and accelerate the discovery of small molecule drugs. The company's primary focus is on boosting the cellular process of autophagy and mitophagy—the body's natural machinery for degrading dysfunctional cellular components. Its programs are directed at genetically validated but historically difficult-to-drug targets to address diseases such as Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and lysosomal storage disorders. One of its key programs involves developing small molecule activators of Parkin, a protein whose mutations are linked to early-onset PD, to promote the clearance of dysfunctional mitochondria.

Keywords: Nine Square Therapeutics, neurodegenerative diseases, small molecule therapeutics, movement disorders, Parkinson's disease treatment, ALS treatment, drug discovery, machine learning in drug discovery, computational chemistry, Apple Tree Partners, UCSF spinout, autophagy, mitophagy, Parkin activators, phenotypic screening, lysosomal storage diseases, computational biology, biophysics, venture capital-backed biotech, San Francisco biotech