Broad Institute and Novo Ventures Launch Drug Discovery “Greenhouse”

Novo Ventures and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have announced the launch of the Novo Broad Greenhouse, a joint initiative to discover and propel transformative new therapies from academic science into the clinic.

To drive the development of the next generation of molecular medicines, the Novo Broad Greenhouse unites three core ingredients: deep basic science expertise from academia, world class drug-discovery capabilities from the Broad Institute’s Center for the Development of Therapeutics (CDoT), and a sustainable funding base and therapeutics development expertise from Novo Holdings.

The Novo Broad Greenhouse seeks to accelerate drug discovery projects led by faculty that are part of the Broad Institute community, including MIT, Harvard, and Harvard-affiliated hospitals.

Novo Holdings, through its US subsidiary, has committed up to $25 million over a five-year period to fund seed-stage drug discovery projects at Broad, spanning a wide range of indications and therapeutic modalities. Seed projects may include efforts to validate new drug targets, to assess how “druggable” certain proteins or genes are, or to develop new assays to assess the potential of drug candidates.

As projects progress beyond the seed phase, additional, separate funding is envisioned to fund the “sprout” phase of continued progress towards a clinical candidate, and ultimately the “bloom” phase — graduation from the Greenhouse towards definitive clinical testing in patients, supported either by a new biotech company or by a strategic partner.

“The pace at which we can now discover the biological mechanisms and root causes of disease is staggering,” said Todd Golub, chief scientific officer of the Broad Institute and a member of the Greenhouse’s Joint Steering Committee. “But in so many cases, these discoveries aren’t yet making it past the lab. The Greenhouse gives us a new opportunity to collaborate across boundaries, combining our expertise with our partners’ to transform our knowledge into the therapies that will benefit patients.”

Faculty and professional scientists at CDoT work closely together to translate curiosity-driven academic research into drug discovery projects. In its structure, partnerships, and capabilities, CDoT functions like a pharma or biotech. Most of the center’s leadership comes from industry and has extensive drug discovery experience. CDoT’s pipeline of projects incorporates multiple therapeutic areas including cancer, cardiovascular, psychiatric diseases and immunoregulation. Project stages span the drug discovery process from target validation to lead optimization. (Source: Broad Institute Website, November 19, 2019)