Brian Gormley
Verified
Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Brian Gormley
Biotech IPOs Charge Ahead as Tech Deals Stall
Plus, Forbion raises $2.6 billion; Novartis strikes $7.8 billion licensing deal Good day: Biotechnology companies are sprinting to the public markets and defying a broader IPO slowdown. Twenty-three biotechs staged initial public offerings in the first three quarters this year, nearly tripling the eight such offerings in all of 2025, according to investment bank William Blair. This week, biotechs TRex Bio and Retension Pharmaceuticals expect to add to the year’s IPO tally.
How a Top Diabetes Nonprofit Reined In Its Venture-Capital Arm — WSJ
The venture arm of diabetes research nonprofit Breakthrough T1D was ramping up its efforts to raise $150 million to propel new treatments to market when its leadership collapsed from within. The T1D Fund, a venture philanthropy, had backed dozens of startups and drawn venture capitalists to Type 1 diabetes.
How a Top Diabetes Nonprofit Reined In Its Venture-Capital Arm
Breakthrough T1D says it fired three board members of the T1D Fund to protect the interest of donors; those dismissed say Breakthrough crushed the fund’s independence The venture arm of diabetes research nonprofit Breakthrough T1D was ramping up its efforts to raise $150 million to propel new treatments to market when its leadership collapsed from within. The T1D Fund, a venture philanthropy, had backed dozens of startups and drawn venture capitalists to Type 1 diabetes.
Luma, a Life-Sciences Investor, Debuts a $410 Million Fund — WSJ
By Brian Gormley Good day: Investments in biomedical startups can take more than a decade to pay off. The structure of the new $410 million venture fund from life-sciences investor Luma Group reflects that and a bit more. Most venture-capital funds are 10-year limited partnerships, so investors expect their money back, plus profits, in that time frame, though extensions can be granted.
Luma, a Life-Sciences Investor, Debuts a $410 Million Fund
Plus: Billionaires push psychedelic treatments; investor Agora makes first deal Good day: Investments in biomedical startups can take more than a decade to pay off. The structure of the new $410 million venture fund from life-sciences investor Luma Group reflects that and a bit more. Most venture-capital funds are 10-year limited partnerships, so investors expect their money back, plus profits, in that time frame, though extensions can be granted. Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Luma, a Life-Sciences Investor, Debuts a $410 Million Fund — WSJ
Luma, a Life-Sciences Investor, Debuts a $410 Million Fund — WSJ Investments in biomedical startups can take more than a decade to pay off. The structure of the new $410 million venture fund from life-sciences investor Luma Group reflects that and a bit more. Most venture-capital funds are 10-year limited partnerships, so investors expect their money back, plus profits, in that time frame, though extensions can be granted.
Luma, a Life-Sciences Investor, Debuts a $410 Million Fund
Venture-capital funds are usually 10-year limited partnerships; Luma has stretched that to 15 years instead A lab technician working on a vaccine. The new Luma fund had its first exit this summer when Vaccine Company was bought by Eli Lilly. Photo: sebastien bozon/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Investments in biomedical startups can take more than a decade to pay off. The structure of the new $410 million venture fund from life-sciences investor Luma Group reflects that and a bit more.
How the Tide Has Turned: Ample Lab Space for Rent
Good day. An overabundance of lab space is leading landlords to grovel for business from biotechnology companies. During the pandemic boom, builders threw up labs to meet increasing demand. Biotechs, desperate for space, often leased more than they needed for fear of being shut out, said Austin Barrett, vice chairman, head of life sciences North America for Savills, a global real estate-services firm.
Gates Foundation Enlists ProFound in Fight Against Preeclampsia
Good day. Biotechnology startup ProFound Therapeutics has attracted pharmaceutical companies such as GSK and Pfizer to its technology for uncovering proteins valuable to the search for new drugs. Now it can add the Gates Foundation to the list of organizations showing interest in its capabilities. ProFound, launched by Flagship Pioneering in 2020, says its technology has revealed thousands of previously unknown proteins.
Muscular Dystrophy Nonprofit Seeks to Boost Venture-Capital Program — WSJ
The nonprofit CureDuchenne through its venture arm has helped startups advance several breakthrough treatments for the rare disorder Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Now it plans to give that investment effort more juice. CureDuchenne for more than two decades has raised capital from donors and invested from its balance sheet in biotechs targeting Duchenne, the most common and lethal form of muscular dystrophy.
Exclusive | Muscular Dystrophy Nonprofit Seeks to Boost Venture Capital Program - WSJ
CureDuchenne Ventures aims to raise a $50 million fund to back startups seeking to cure genetic disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy From left: Paul, Hawken and Debra Miller. Debra and husband Paul founded CureDuchenne in 2003 after their son Hawken was diagnosed with Duchenne at age 5. Photo: The Miller Family The nonprofit CureDuchenne through its venture arm has helped startups advance several breakthrough treatments for the rare disorder Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Can AI Outperform Doctors? JAMA Commentary Says ‘Yes’
AI evangelist Vinod Khosla and his son, Neal Khosla, are among the article’s authors; critics punch back Vinod Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures, a top investor in AI, technology and healthcare. Photo: cole burston/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images A commentary in a top medical journal co-authored by Vinod Khosla says AI outperforms doctors on certain tasks, sparking debate on how far startups should push the technology into medicine.
Scala Biodesign Picks Up $16 Million for Protein-Design Software
@@@@@@@@URLPROCESSING:ON@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@------@@@@@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ Good day. Most biotechnology startups hope to discover a drug that tickets them for riches. Scala Biodesign has secured $16 million in Series A financing to take a different tack. Optimizing proteins has historically been a slow process of trial and error.
Startup to Link ‘Biobanks’ of Patient Tissue to Supercharge AI Medical Research
With $50 million in hand, Network Bio plans to offer virtual access to tissue and blood samples from major academic hospitals From left, Network Bio co-founders Raphael Potter, chief business officer, and Asad Ali Ahmad, chief executive. Photo: Network Bio Scientists who want to harness AI for medical discovery wrestle with the difficulty of getting sufficient data for the job. That’s a hurdle startup Network Bio aims to remove.
Most Rare Diseases Have No Approved Drug. This Accelerator Aims to Help
A new accelerator will invest in treatments for rare diseases through a model that blends philanthropy and venture capital. Pittsburgh-based Rare Ventures has launched with an up to $25 million investment from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Expedition Therapeutics Takes On Big Pharma With a COPD Pill
Good day. Expedition Therapeutics is taking a big swing: The startup is going up against top pharmaceutical companies to field its own drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition that causes 6% of deaths globally. Among those heavyweights are GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim. Even on existing medications, COPD patients can have flare-ups, or “exacerbations,” that can land them in the hospital.
Biotechs Band Together for AI Training Data
Good day. Biotech companies are seeking to use artificial intelligence to computationally design antibody cures for diseases. But there’s a hang-up: the scarcity of biological data needed to train models for this discovery. For biotech startup A-Alpha Bio, this is a business opportunity. A-Alpha has launched a consortium of companies with the goal of generating such data.
What Does the Shutdown Mean for Venture Capital and Startups?
Good day. Much of the federal government ground to a halt on Wednesday after a funding lapse paused nonessential functions. Biotech venture investors will closely monitor how the shutdown affects portfolio companies' interaction with the Food and Drug Administration.
Biotechs Band Together for AI Training Data
@@@@@@@@URLPROCESSING:ON@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@------@@@@@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ Good day. Biotech companies are seeking to use artificial intelligence to computationally design antibody cures for diseases. But there’s a hang-up: the scarcity of biological data needed to train models for this discovery. For biotech startup A-Alpha Bio, this is a business opportunity. A-Alpha has launched a consortium of companies with the goal of generating such data.
IPOs Are Back. So Why Are These Biotechs Taking a Different Path?
More biotech startups are choosing to go public through reverse mergers instead of IPOs Competition for biotech reverse mergers is intensifying. Photo: Bloomberg News Lingering unease from the recent financing downturn is leading more biotechnology startups to go public by “reverse merging” with a public company. In a reverse merger, a private company combines with a public one and the startup’s investors become the majority shareholders of the new, combined business.
Jennifer Doudna’s Scribe Therapeutics Rockets at IPO
Biotech raises $128.7 million to continue its work on genetic medicines to reduce cardiovascular disease Scribe Therapeutics shares shot up 44.3% on their first day of trading Friday. Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg News Shares of Scribe Therapeutics, a genetic-medicines company co-founded by Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna, shot up on their first day of trading Friday, continuing a rebound for biotech IPOs this year.
Biotech Startup Gets $130 Million to Settle 'Unfinished Business'
Good day. James Mackay’s previous effort to provide gout patients with a novel treatment ended in disappointment. Venture capitalists are helping him give it another shot. Mackay is co-founder and chief executive of Crystalys Therapeutics, a biotech startup that has secured $130 million in Series B financing to advance a treatment for gout, a painful condition stemming from excess uric acid in the blood.
VCs Back Ollin Bio's Quest for New Eye Treatments With $330 Million
Good day. Biotechnology startup Ollin Biosciences has refueled with $330 million in new venture funding to challenge top drugmakers in the market for drugs to treat vision disorders. Austin, Texas-based Ollin’s most-advanced compound could treat two common causes of vision loss: the wet form of age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema. Existing treatments for these diseases include Roche’s Vabysmo, which generated more than $5 billion in 2025 sales.
Biotech Venture Funding Roars Back
A recovering IPO market, surging mergers and acquisitions fuel more biotech venture deals Biotech’s turnaround kicked off late last year as mergers and acquisitions shot up, drugmakers posted strong clinical data and stocks climbed. Photo: Patrick Hertzog/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Biotechnology venture funding is surging, driven by an explosion of mergers and acquisitions and a revival of initial public offerings in the industry.
China’s Ascent in Biotech Rousts U.S. Venture Capitalists to Adapt
China’s nascent challenge has U.S. biotech startups hustling to emulate China’s efficiency and speed in drug development In the first half, Chinese biotechs raised 15% of global biotech venture capital, up from 9% in all of 2025, according to investment bank Locust Walk. Illustration: Thomas R.
What’s the Future of AI in Clinical Health Care?
Good day. Startups are advancing artificial intelligence for patient care, including tools that refill prescriptions and adjust medication doses. For this week's question, we want your view: Is this a promising application of AI, or do you have concerns about its use in clinical care? Please email responses to vcnews@wsj.com.
HealthQuest Capital Leads $40 Million Series B for Connie Health
Good day. Independent agents vie with nationwide brokers for business placing seniors in Medicare Advantage plans. Startup Connie Health has secured $40 million in new venture funding to help the little guys compete. Medicare Advantage plans are sold by private insurers and often provide benefits, such as dental and vision coverage, not covered under traditional Medicare. As of Feb.
Biotech Investor Pumps the Brakes on AI Drug Discovery
Many venture capitalists contend that AI is set to turbocharge drug discovery. Jim Healy isn’t one of them. Healy is managing partner of Sofinnova Investments, which formed in 1976 and helped birth the biotechnology industry through its investment that year in Genentech. Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Anterra Capital Gets $100 Million Bag for Food and Ag
The venture-capital firm has held a first closing on a food-and-agriculture fund expected to reach $200 million by year-end From left, Anterra Capital Partner Brett Wong and founders Maarten Goossens, Phil Austin and Adam Anders. Photo: Anterra Capital While other investors obsess over artificial intelligence, Anterra Capital is seeding ideas in a multitrillion-dollar industry that receives less fanfare.
Parabilis Medicines Shares Rocket Following Record Biotech IPO
Investors crowned Parabilis Medicines with the largest biotech initial public offering on record—then bid its shares up some 58% on their first day of trading Wednesday. Parabilis’s $670 million Nasdaq debut topped the previous biotech record from Kailera Therapeutics, an obesity-drug developer that staged a $625 million IPO in April. Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
What Is the Outlook for the Digital Health Venture Market?
Good day. Health-wearables companies Whoop and ŌURA have raised a combined total of nearly $1.5 billion in venture funding in the past six months. What do these megarounds say about the state of the digital health venture market? Are funds simply flowing to the strongest startups, or is the sector careering toward another bubble? Please email responses to vcnews@wsj.com. Last week, we asked about your calculus regarding where to live and work in light of various tax proposals around the country.
Startup Hunts for a Better Duchenne Gene Therapy
SonoThera raises $125 million to run clinical trials of its gene treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy A SonoThera laboratory. The company is working on a way to more directly and safely deliver gene therapies. Photo: SonoThera Venture investors have staked SonoThera $125 million in new capital, hoping the startup’s technology will revolutionize the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other diseases.
How Has the AI Boom Affected LP Expectations?
Good day. Cerebras Systems' recent initial public offering and the expected IPOs of Anthropic and OpenAI showcase the explosive returns possible through investments in artificial intelligence. For this week's question, we want your view on AI's impact on venture firms' fundraising. How has the AI revolution affected limited partners' interest in venture capital and their expectations for this sector? Please email vcnews@wsj.com.
Do IPOs Have a Shot in 2026?
Jeff Bezos is in early talks to raise $100 billion for a new fund that would buy up manufacturing companies and seek to use AI technology to accelerate their path to automation.The Amazon.com founder is meeting with some of the world’s largest asset managers to raise funding for the project. A few months ago, he traveled to the Middle East to discuss the new fund with sovereign-wealth representatives in the region.
ClearNote Health Grabs $52 Million for Early Pancreatic Cancer Detection
The San Diego company says its blood test can detect pancreatic cancer when curative surgery may still be an option Pancreatic cancer accounts for about 8% of cancer deaths in the U.S. Photo: Peter Byrne/ZUMA Press Biomedical company ClearNote Health has gathered $52 million in new venture capital to expand sales of its pancreatic cancer test, which is designed to detect the disease in its earlier and more treatable stages.
AI Lab Corti Aims to Give Healthcare Entrepreneurs a Lift
Good day. Healthcare professionals might be clear-eyed about their industry’s problems, but daunted by the prospect of building their own artificial-intelligence assistant to help. Venture-backed Corti wants to be their ally. Corti, whose investors include Atomico, is an AI lab that says it can compete with the likes of OpenAI in healthcare and life sciences because it was built specifically for them.
FDA Turns to AI to Speed Up Clinical Trials
Good day. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeks to accelerate clinical trials of new medicines by using artificial intelligence to streamline the laborious process of collecting and submitting study data. Typically, medical centers involved in clinical trials pull study data from electronic-health records and enter them manually into a data-capture system. Then, the drug company developing the medicine reviews the data and submits them to the FDA.
A Trio of Biotechs Plan Stock-Market Debuts This Week
Good day. Kailera Therapeutics roared on to the public markets earlier this month by raising a $625 million in its initial public offering. Three more biotechs aim to ride that momentum in their stock-market debuts this week. Kailera went public at $16, and its shares have climbed about 47% since the IPO on the strength of its potential obesity treatments.
FDA Turns to AI to Speed Up Clinical Trials
The agency aims to get drugs to patients faster and make the U.S. more competitive The University of Pennsylvania is participating in an AstraZeneca study. Photo: charles mostoller/Reuters The U.S. Food and Drug Administration seeks to accelerate clinical trials of new medicines by using artificial intelligence to streamline the laborious process of collecting and submitting study data.
A Trio of Biotechs Plan Stock-Market Debuts This Week
@@@@@@@@URLPROCESSING:ON@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@------@@@@@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ @@@@EXCLUDE@@@@ Good day. Kailera Therapeutics roared on to the public markets earlier this month by raising a $625 million in its initial public offering. Three more biotechs aim to ride that momentum in their stock-market debuts this week. Kailera went public at $16, and its shares have climbed about 47% since the IPO on the strength of its potential obesity treatments.
Exclusive | He Beat Cancer. His Venture Fund Aims to Help Others Do the Same.
Ben Freeberg, solo general partner of Oncology Ventures, has raised $62 million for the firm’s second fund Ben Freeberg is the solo general partner of Oncology Ventures. Photo: Oncology Ventures Solo general partner Ben Freeberg has raised a $62 million second fund for Oncology Ventures, the cancer-focused venture firm he launched after facing the disease himself.
Tubulis M&A Deal Continues Surge of Biotech M&A
Good day. Gilead Sciences’ agreement to buy biotech startup Tubulis continues a dealmaking run that puts 2026 on track to be another giant year for biotechnology mergers and acquisitions. Gilead on Tuesday said it would purchase Tubulis, a venture-backed cancer-drug developer, for $3.15 billion up front.
Why This Hair-Loss Biotech Is Killing It
Shares of Veradermics, a developer of a pill for hair loss, have shot up since its February IPO Veradermics debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in February. Photo: @NYSE This year’s crop of biotechnology IPOs features an unusual star in an industry better known for targeting severe diseases: Veradermics, whose shares have rocketed on the potential of its hair-loss pill. New Haven, Conn.-based Veradermics went public at $17 in February.
Venture Land Still Seems Hesitant About Women Founders. What Can Be Done?
Good day. Biotech, it turns out, is one of the few sectors where both venture deal value and count are increasing in companies founded by women, according to a PitchBook study on female founders. Still, the industry has struggled to bring women into top executive positions. What has worked and what can be done to expand opportunities for female founders and executives? Please email response to vcnews@wsj.com.
Biotech VC's Vaccine Die-Hards
Good day. In biotech investment circles, they are the ultimate contrarians: the venture capitalists who say now is the time to invest in vaccines. During the pandemic, biotechs Moderna and BioNTech, with partner Pfizer, whisked Covid-19 vaccines to market with help from President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed. Shares of the three companies rocketed and Moderna and BioNTech shone as two of biotech’s greatest successes.
Whoop Raises $575 Million at $10.1 Billion Valuation Despite FDA Rift
LeBron James, other athletes join financing for wearable devices company WSJ ProMarch 31, 2026 7:00 am ET Athletes including Rory McIlroy are investors in Whoop’s latest venture financing. Photo: Whoop Wearable devices company Whoop has raised $575 million in a new financing at a $10.1 billion valuation to expand the use of technology that has attracted celebrity users and U.S. regulatory scrutiny over its blood-pressure feature.
Biotech VC’s Vaccine Die-Hards
Despite the MAHA agenda in Washington, a handful of venture capitalists remain staunch believers that vaccines will pay off WSJ ProMarch 26, 2026 6:00 am ET Some vaccine entrepreneurs and venture investors say they are undeterred by political pressure on their industry. Illustration: Thomas R. Lechleiter/WSJ In biotech investment circles, they are the ultimate contrarians: the venture capitalists who say now is the time to invest in vaccines.
Exclusive | Startups Are Pushing AI Into Patient Care
Doctronic, which just raised $40 million, links patients to human doctors in virtual visits and has a pilot program that refills prescriptions. Other startups are also bringing AI closer to clinical medicine. WSJ ProMarch 23, 2026 6:00 am ET Three screenshots of Doctronic's diagnostic tool. Photo: Doctronic Artificial intelligence is already streamlining the paperwork side of healthcare. Now it’s seeping into patient care, too.
Exclusive | HHS Has a Potential Solution for Cancers That Keep Coming Back: Vaccines
A public-private partnership will fund clinical trials of vaccines that could prevent cancer recurrence WSJ ProMarch 17, 2026 11:15 am ET Cancer vaccines have long tantalized and frustrated researchers. Photo: Lindsey Wasson/Associated Press The Trump administration, which has been skeptical of vaccines that prevent infections, is going all in on a new initiative to deploy novel vaccines against cancer.
ITM Nabs $204 Million for Radiopharmaceutical Treatments
Good day. A new financing for ITM Isotope Technologies Munich brings the German biotechnology company’s total venture backing to about €500 million, equivalent to about $543 million, and will help it advance treatments in one of the pharmaceutical industry’s hottest sectors. Radiopharmaceuticals use a targeting molecule to guide radiation to tumors. The idea—similar in concept to another type of targeted cancer therapy known as antibody-drug conjugates—isn’t new.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Brian
Contact Brian, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack