BridgeBio Pharma Announces Founding Affiliation with Bakar Labs, Incubator at UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub
From the press release
BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBIO), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on genetic diseases and cancers, today announced its founding affiliation with Bakar Labs, the incubator at UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub. Bakar Labs was established by the University of California (UC), Berkeley and QB3, UC’s research institute for innovation and entrepreneurship in the life sciences and is open to academic researchers from around the world. The Labs will host up to 50 innovative life science start-up companies seeking to advance promising research.
“Partnering with UC Berkeley and QB3 to launch Bakar Labs is a natural extension of our mission to discover, create, test, and deliver transformative medicines to as many patients as possible. Through this collaboration, we aim to strengthen the Bay Area biotech ecosystem and potentially unlock new therapies for patients with unmet needs,” said BridgeBio founder and CEO Neil Kumar, Ph.D.
The multi-disciplinary startup companies at Bakar Labs are supported by world-class facilities, resources, and expertise from industry and academia. BridgeBio intends to review discoveries, provide support to entrepreneurs, and consider possible partnership opportunities with startups focused on potential therapies for patients with genetically-driven diseases and cancers.
“We admire BridgeBio’s innovation in pioneering a decentralized model with shared resources, addressing vital unmet needs for therapies for genetic diseases,” said Regis Kelly, Ph.D., OBE, director of Bakar Labs. “We look forward to learning from and interacting with BridgeBio as we develop Bakar Labs as a shared resource for entrepreneurs developing a wide range of new biotechnologies.”
A core part of BridgeBio’s efforts to help patients is the identification of new discoveries in academia. With an extensive pipeline and research and development capabilities, BridgeBio seeks to provide the insights and support needed to rapidly progress promising academic research from labs to clinical development. This new partnership will allow the Company to play a role in finding and accelerating research for patients as quickly and safely as possible.
About BridgeBio Pharma, Inc.
BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (BridgeBio) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company founded to discover, create, test and deliver transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from genetic diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers. BridgeBio’s pipeline of development programs ranges from early science to advanced clinical trials. BridgeBio was founded in 2015 and its team of experienced drug discoverers, developers and innovators are committed to applying advances in genetic medicine to help patients as quickly as possible. For more information visit bridgebio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
About Bakar Labs
Bakar Labs is the flagship life science-focused incubator at UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub. Operated by QB3, Bakar Labs provides extensive equipment, lab and office facilities, and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs to help startups grow. Bakar Labs can support as many as 50 early-stage companies from around the world focused on translating life science-based innovations that promise to improve human health. No UC affiliation is required to join. For information about how to join or form a partnership, visit bakarlabs.berkeley.edu.
