With a who’s who of Big Pharma on board and over $100 million in funds, Mediar Therapeutics is gearing up to see whether its first-in-class fibrosis therapies will deliver in the clinic.
Mediar’s origin story goes back to the labs of Mass General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where researchers explored the potential to treat fibrotic disease by targeting the myofibroblast, the key cell type driving fibrosis progression. The company’s pitch is that this approach can offer a more precise treatment option than existing fibrosis therapies, which tend to focus on modulating the underlying immune responses known to drive the onset of disease but can also run the risk of disrupting pro-inflammatory pathways that the body relies on to prevent illness.