Tribune Therapeutics spins out from SPARK Norway
Posted on September 2nd, 2021
A SPARK Norway project led by researchers Ole Jørgen Kaasbøll and Håvard Attramadal forms the basis of a new startup company, Tribune Therapeutics, focused on fibrosis.
Dr. Kaasbøll, who led the SPARK project, will become Chief Scientific Officer at Tribune. Dr. Kaasbøll and Dr. Attramadal are both researchers at Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo (UiO) and Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital (OUS). Through their SPARK project, “A biologic therapeutic for pulmonary fibrosis,” the team identified how a key signaling molecule in the development of fibrosis is activated, then designed and produced new molecules that can treat fibrosis in the body. Based on their work, Tribune aims to develop a new treatment for fibrosis.
In a press release from UiO, the researchers discuss the advantages that SPARK Norway gave them and how the SPARK program provided crucial assistance to commercialize their work.
“In SPARK Norway, we got the opportunity to engage with a mentor that has extensive biotech experience. Among other things, this led us to plan for more aggressive timelines in the project than we first anticipated. More aggressive timelines made everyone involved in the project more focused on the implementation. For our project, it was also very important that SPARK Norway facilitated our participation in an industry conference, NLSDays, where we had the opportunity to make contact and get feedback from both Big Pharma representatives and early-stage venture capital funds,” said Dr. Kaasbøll.
Founded in 2020, Tribune officially launched in 2021 with seed funding led by HealthCap and Novo Holdings.
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