Biotechnology conglomerate CCM Biosciences, Inc. (CCM Bio) announced its launch from stealth after five years of incubation at Chakrabarti Advanced Technology (CAT), the technology development arm of the global chemicals and pharmaceutical conglomerate PMC Group, Inc. Chakrabarti Capital Management, LLC (CCM), which manages the venture investments of the Chakrabarti family (100% owners of PMC Group, Inc), served as the lead investor in a Series A round, investing $10M into CCM Bio.

CCM Bio is comprised of three primary subsidiaries – spanning respectively the areas of DNA Biotechnology and Molecular Diagnostics Pipelines (5Prime Biosciences); Small Molecule Drug Pipelines (Codagen Biosciences); and Biologic Drug and Drug Formulation Pipelines (Nanothera Biosciences) – which in-license drug leads from top academic and research institutions as well as apply proprietary technology platforms to the in-house development of new therapeutic and companion diagnostic assets. CCM’s companion diagnostics (CDx) test pipelines accompany personalized medicine therapeutic (Rx) pipelines. The focus is on personalized cancer & rare disease Dx/Rx.

CCM Bio is led by Founder and CEO, Dr. Raj Chakrabarti (AB Harvard, PhD Princeton; formerly Professor of Chemical Engineering at Purdue University and Carnegie Mellon University), who is also the President of PMC Group International. Co-Founder Dr. Anisha Ghosh is Professor of Finance at McGill University (PhD London School of Economics, formerly Professor of Finance at Carnegie Mellon University). The extensive academic networks of the Founders and deep domain knowledge in the areas of a) high throughput discovery of drug leads and CDx reagents and b) the financial valuation of drug assets have facilitated the rapid in-licensing of drug leads from academia as well as establishing in-house drug and CDx programs. Coupled with this has been the building of a Scientific Advisory Board comprised of the world’s foremost experts in the Modes of Action of CCM’s drug programs.

CCM Bio has acquired exclusive licensing rights to an extensive list of over ten mostly first-in-class drug leads from leading universities and research institutes, including Yale University, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Ohio State University, the Max Planck Institute, the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and others. As an example, CCM Bio’s KRAS inhibitors portfolio – which includes PDE Delta inhibitors, non-covalent KRAS inhibitors, and gene therapy miRNA-based KRAS inhibitors -- rivals those of industry leading competitors such as Revolution Medicines Inc (NASDAQ: RVMD, market cap $2.3B) and BridgeBio Pharma Inc (NASDAQ: BBIO, market cap $8.0B). In certain cases, CCM funds the continued development of drug leads at the research institutions where they were discovered as part of the licensing agreements, in collaboration with CCMs in-house scientists.

CCM’s drug discovery team carries out lead optimization and preclinical studies to enable IND filings, following which the company leverages its proprietary CDx tests and GMP manufacturing capabilities to accelerate clinical development. The Chemistry, Manufacturing & Controls (CMC) for CCM Bio’s drug programs are handled by a partnership with PMC International’s Pharma Division. The latter is comprised of leading FDA approved CDMOs with decades of experience in GMP manufacturing.

CCM Bio’s biotechnology portfolio is revenue-generating through the diagnostic products of 5Prime Biosciences. Its first-generation diagnostics-related patents, developed in the PhD thesis of Founder Dr. Raj Chakrabarti at Princeton University, have been licensed by companies such as Celera/Abbott Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics (the leading clinical IVD test for autism), and New England Biolabs (the market leading Q5 polymerase used worldwide in DNA sequencing applications), and have also been the basis of a partnership with Toyobo/Sekisui Diagnostics. The annual sales of products based on these patents is close to $15M. This technology platform is undergoing continued development for multiple CDx test applications based on droplet digital PCR and next-generation sequencing (NGS) at 5Prime Biosciences.

CCM Bio is the first biotech conglomerate with both new therapeutic and companion diagnostic assets, an in-house scientific team to facilitate the generation of new IP, and an in-house CDMO to support the CMC during the trails of its drug programs. The CCM Bio biotech conglomerate thus comprises an integrated ecosystem spanning several aspects of pharmaceutical discovery and development.