Latest / The BioHub - by Avetix / Episode 226 - Tony Estrada - CEO & Co-founder Tenvie Therapeutics

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Episode 226 - Tony Estrada - CEO & Co-founder Tenvie Therapeutics · The BioHub - by Avetix

• 0:06
  So welcome back to another episode of the Biohub and Avetix
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  podcast. Today, I'm joined by Tony
• 0:13
  Estrada, Co founder, President and CEO of 10 V Therapeutics.
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  Before founding 10V, Tony held leadership roles at both
• 0:20
  Genentech and Denali Therapeutics, where he led the
• 0:23
  Discovery Sciences organization and helped advance multiple
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  programs across neurology, information and immunology.
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  Today, he's building 10 VA company developing precision
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  engineered small molecule therapies for neurological and
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  peripheral diseases. In this conversation, we
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  discussed the the journey to founding 10V, building a biotech
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  in one of the toughest funding environments in recent years,
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  why neuroscience is entering an exciting new era, the importance
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  of mentorship, and where AI could transform the future of
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  drug discovery. It's a pleasure to have you
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  Tony. How are you?
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  Doing great. Thanks Max.
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  Really appreciate the time and appreciate the opportunity to
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  represent 10 D and on your part back.
• 1:04
  Yeah, absolutely. It's great to have you on.
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  So just going to start with with you and your career, Tony, you
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  you've spent your career discovering medicines at
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  companies like Genentech and Denali.
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  At what? At what point did you decide you
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  wanted to stop helping build someone else's vision and start
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  building your own? Well, coming out of grad school,
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  starting my industry church, Genentech, it was really
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  critical to understand how to discover medicine.
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  And that's what Genentech really taught me during my roughly 7
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  years there. Then Denali taught me how to
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  build a company. So after advancing 6 homegrown
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  small molecules and A5 year time frame and then human clinical
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  studies at Denali, I'd proven to myself and that I needed to
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  build a standalone company to execute on my vision, which was
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  harnessing the power of small molecules specifically to
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  improve the lives of patients and caregivers and which is what
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  tendies focuses. And so that's understanding that
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  I had a successful product engine and platform that could
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  translate to scalable success. I knew at that point I had to
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  venture and and try a Bamber. Yeah, I love that.
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  And I think taking the plunge is not one of those easy things to
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  do. And you found a 10V in what was
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  one of the the toughest funding environments in biotech.
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  What what gave you the confidence to just to take that
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  leap and and how did those market conditions shape the
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  company you wanted to build? Yeah, I was doing a lot of work
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  not only within Denali, but was also supporting some venture
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  efforts prior to launching 10V. And I was had an understanding
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  of the types of programs, projects and ideas that were
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  being funded. And I knew what I, what my
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  vision was and I was confident that there was opportunities and
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  that there would be significant interest in what we were and
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  what I was going to be able to build.
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  And so I, I, you mentioned a tough environment.
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  I, I love the fact that we launched Tenby in a tough
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  funding environment. It, it helped set the tone for
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  running as discipline and scrap your organization, which remains
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  the same today, even though the market have significantly
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  improved from 2024 and 2025. And I think, you know, we, we
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  retain that scrappiness, that discipline that we had when we
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  started the company. And, and you know, for example,
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  the 10 and 10 VS that comes from tenacity, which is one of our,
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  you know, founding core values. And so being tenacious is
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  actually built into our name. Scrappy is such a good word for
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  me as well. I love that and it and then a
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  startup environment biotech, you just have to be that.
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  But the fact that you guys talk about it so often, I love and
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  it's one of those things that that the easy words to say.
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  But but for you guys, what, what do they actually look like
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  day-to-day when you're building a biotech?
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  Yeah, it means, especially in this environment, it means being
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  relentless, you know, being focusing on controllable details
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  and paying attention to really close important details.
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  Never being outworked, something I've always prided myself on and
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  I think is instilled through the team.
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  It means building a team that's driven to succeed and prefers to
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  be lean and mean. There are cenotypes and
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  individuals who gravitate more to, you know, larger
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  organizations and some redundancy.
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  I think there are some managers who prefer to build large groups
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  and we've identified the folks that love to be lean and mean
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  and where it means willing to make tough prioritization
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  decisions, leading by example and and demonstrating that no
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  job is is too small for anyone, including myself, always being
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  available to the employees. So those are things that are
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  really important then I think help us retain that scrappiness.
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  And and we, you know, I have the other word I often use is, is
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  grinding. We, we grind and biotech,
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  especially start up world as a grind.
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  And so if you're not willing to do that and roll up your
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  sleeves, then it's unlikely you're going to be successful.
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  Yes, a few aspects to it well, right, like I think in in your
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  game that it's such a long journey, you know from start up
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  discovery to to what could be commercialization or or even a
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  deal in the future. You need you need to celebrate
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  those little wins along the way as well and without that
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  scrappiness like you just don't do that.
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  I think that aspects also really important to to think about.
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  Yeah, I agree and and the team will tell you that I'm not
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  always the greatest celebrating this fall wins.
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  I'm very transparent with that because I'm usually looking
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  ahead to the next thing, but it but it is important.
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  And we and we do make a concerted effort at 10 B to
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  recognize the the small victories because again, what we
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  do is really challenging. It's met with a lot of failures
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  and you have to be resilient. And we celebrate, you know, when
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  we are, when we're able to make a successful pause or kill too,
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  because those are important. They not every target is going
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  to work and not every mechanism of action is going to be the
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  right one. Not every binding site or
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  binding mode is going to be the appropriate, you know, success.
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  So we have to be willing to pivot quickly in in the again in
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  this biotech and startup world. I mean, neuroscience is is
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  humbled a lot of companies over the years.
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  So it feels even that much more important, right?
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  But it it does feel like the field is really entering an
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  exciting period. But what do you think about
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  that? Like why do you believe now is
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  the right time for holding in this space?
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  Yeah, it's an interesting question.
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  I know it's one that we face to when we started Denali, you
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  know, roughly A decade ago. Is, is it the right time?
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  Neuroscience is hard. Here we are 10 years later and
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  then that, right? It's the same question for a new
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  journey and a new company. I think the answer similar is
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  that we must act with urgency because there are a lot of of
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  individuals who are suffering from neurological diseases where
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  there is really zero or very few options.
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  The second part of the that is I do believe that we have
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  continually made advancements in neuroscience specifically and
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  despite it being really challenging, some of the
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  advances that we've made that give me confidence that will
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  succeed. And highly relevant to 10B is
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  the speed and sophistication of small molecule drug discovery.
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  So at 10 B and we've developed a purpose built product engine
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  with the ability to rapidly invent, design and develop both
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  fully CNS penetrant and peripheral restricted assets for
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  almost any drug target class. And in two years, we were able
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  to, you know, roughly 2 years post launch, we started phase
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  one clinical trials for two homegrown lead assets from our
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  product engine. And so this is amazing
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  productivity in a short period. And that is something that would
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  have been very challenging to, to imagine, believe and execute
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  on a decade ago. I think that speed there's a lot
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  of things that go into that, but it's it's it's a lot of
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  advancements and in that drug discovery process and in our
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  system that have allowed us to be able to operate together with
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  that speed. I think that another area part
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  of that equation is structural biology.
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  I'll call that out because that impacts our processes on a
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  day-to-day basis and especially cry OEM.
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  These are making really hard CNS targets tractable.
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  So for example, when I started my career 15 plus years ago, the
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  idea of getting in for example, a Co crystal structure of a
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  membrane protein with a ligand was almost laughable.
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  It was essentially not possible. And then so we were limited to
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  homology models or just property based drug design.
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  Today we can get multiple structures for every single one
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  of the targets that we're working on within a month,
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  including membrane proteins, things that are where we're
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  trying to drug protein, protein interactions.
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  Of course you're more traditional kinases or GPCRS,
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  but really any drug target class, we're able to get those
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  Co the the ligand protein structures and that can help us
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  significantly Dr. The drug design, the delivery of the
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  development candidate and then importantly start the the real
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  testing which is in the clinic. One thing that is interesting
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  about you guys that you, you are expressed in clinical assets,
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  but you're also continuing to invest heavily in discovery.
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  How do you balance delivering near term milestones of building
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  what is going to be that next generation?
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  Yeah, it's a challenge. And I think a lot of companies
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  face this challenge and what you see often is you see early
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  startup companies advance their assets into the clinic and then
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  they quickly cool back on some of their research efforts.
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  Here at 10 V we really see research and development as one
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  continuum and we think of it as bench to bedside.
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  And it's the same product engine that generates our are clinical
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  assets that create that near term value today and then which
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  also create the next generation or the next wave of assets that
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  provides the long term and scalable value creation.
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  And that's one of the advantages of and differentiation pieces of
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  you know, 10 B is our ability to be successful both in the near
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  term and then be able to efficiently, especially cost
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  efficiently maintain that product engine and that that
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  research phase to deliver to deliver the next wave of assets.
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  It, it also just solidifies your value as a company as well.
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  We were just talking about other companies that, that it hadn't
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  gone the way that they they'd wanted to with a certain asset.
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  But the companies in question, they they had other options
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  because of the just the pipeline they they built.
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  Yeah, exactly. And and in this arena and early
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  biotech and startup world, it's very rarely the first idea, the
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  first target that you both that you have in your initial vision
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  that pans out. You know we've been very
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  fortunate to date in that NLRP 3 and Psalm 1 specifically for 10B
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  were our top two priority programs when we launched the
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  company and we were able to deliver on advancing assets for
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  both into the clinic within a two year time frame.
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  I think that's not very common especially being able to do so
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  in that time frame. And then with with assets that
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  are homegrown that are not in licensed, you know from another
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  company that it it's a challenge to do and and again, very
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  fortunate that we've been able to do that and stay on our
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  initial vision. And but you never know when you
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  are going to have to pivot. So we have to remain flexible
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  and adaptable to do that just in case something around the corner
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  doesn't quite go our way. And I think the the ability to
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  have not only those near term clinical assets, but then a lot
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  of pipeline programs that have exciting potential and value
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  creation opportunities around the corner that does allow us to
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  spread that risk. Yeah, I love, I love how well
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  you guys doing at the moment. It's so good to see, you know,
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  but long may it continue as well.
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  Like as you said, you haven't had any issues so far as
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  touching wood. And yeah, wish you the best of
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  luck. I want to just take it back a
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  step as well, because in our our call before this, you spoke
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  about the impact that Ryan Watts and other mentors had on your
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  career. How, how important is that
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  mentorship being in in shaping the leader you've become?
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  Yeah, it's significant. And I've been very fortunate as
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  well and blessed, I would say, with a lot of great mentors
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  throughout my career from Genentech, the Denali and here
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  at 10 B2. One of the things you mentioned
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  Ryan and one of the lessons I learned from Ryan was an
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  unwavering commitment to a purpose.
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  I think when at Denali, I may have not fully appreciated it,
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  but I definitely appreciate it now.
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  And it's, it's critical. And at at 10 B, our purpose is
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  to help those suffering from neurological and peripheral
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  diseases. And that drives me and it drives
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  our team every day. And we have to be steadfast and
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  we have to constantly remind ourselves of that purpose
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  because it's really why we do, you know, why we come into work
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  every day. And that's really important.
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  Another lesson that I learned also from Ryan and from other
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  other mentors as well is simplifying complexity.
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  And we set extremely ambitious goals at 10 B, as do a lot of
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  biotech companies. We all have to set ambitious
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  goals to succeed and we're seeking to to tackle complex
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  diseases here. And specifically you mentioned
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  some of the neurological diseases that we that we look to
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  tackle and the ability to slice through the noise and just
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  simplify A complexity. And my role is really important.
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  And that's one of the that's one of the things I look to bring to
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  the team and that I lean on some of our leaders here to also do
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  as well for out the organization to to simplify that complexity.
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  And it's it's not a coincidence as well.
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  Like the amount of times I'll ask someone who's been on this
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  podcast, like, what advice would you give to the generation?
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  It's like look out for mentors. Yeah, I think, I think it's so,
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  so important. Complete change of topic now as
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  well, Terry, but AI some see it's something that's spoken
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  about all the time now in biotedic.
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  What do you think? Like where do you think it would
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  genuinely change the way we discover and develop medicines?
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  And where do you think it's still being overhyped?
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  Yeah. And these are good questions.
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  I think about this often and I'll take it in A10B specific
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  manner, but at 10 B we look at it and I've always looked at it
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  as a fit for purpose approach to AI.
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  So really deploying it and utilizing it where it
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  meaningfully adds value, but not everywhere.
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  And so in, for example, in research, this means combining
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  humans and machine to accelerate our design, make test cycles
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  within our our small molecule jar discovery processes.
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  And so this is applying best in class models to predict ADME and
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  PK properties before we ever even synthesize a compound.
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  So at the in silico stage, it's also then continuing to utilize
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  those tools at an N Vitron and then vivo stage as well to help
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  with triage and to ensure that we are, you know, maximizing the
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  probability of success with the fewest number of molecules as
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  possible. And that shortens those
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  timelines. And we also use AI to make sense
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  of, we generate a lot of data and a lot of high volume data.
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  And so using AI can help us with simplifying that as well.
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  And we do that on a, you know, daily, weekly basis.
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  The other areas and development, which is another, which is an
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  arena where I think AI can make significant impact and already
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  is I believe across the industry.
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  For us that means streamlining clinical trials through patient
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  recruitment, eligibility, rescreening, data management,
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  because again, we talked about data we generate preclinically.
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  We also generate a lot of data clinically as well as document
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  generation. You know, the number of
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  documents, especially when you're moving multiple molecules
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  in parallel through, you know, through the clinic with a small
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  team, anytime you can leverage document generation tools,
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  that's also something that we look to.
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  I think you mentioned hype or over hype.
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  And and regarding that, what I would say is AI can do we, we've
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  it continually can do more and more things for us in drug
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  discovery where I believe, again, just to reiterate, it's,
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  it impacts 10 BS accelerating prioritization and design ideas
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  and triaging clinical operations, but it doesn't
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  replace scientific judgment, it doesn't replace experimentation
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  and it doesn't replace great scientists.
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  And so when I see that, I think those are the areas where raise
• 19:55
  eyebrows for me and where I'm not bought into the height.
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  I think those things are going to remain do.
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  You do you think there's an element of fear of being left
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  behind by biotechs? Like we've got to jump on this
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  AI bandwagon in some way because otherwise, you know, these other
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  biotechs where our competition will be leaps and bounds ahead
• 20:21
  of us. So we, we, we've just got to do
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  something and that's where potentially overuse or what
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  whatever may may come of AI. Yes, I do.
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  I do think there is a bit of of sort of FOMO in that.
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  And I do think that especially in 2020-2021, you know, during
• 20:40
  the, the COVID boom, you saw a lot of companies, you know,
• 20:46
  immediately shift to high valuations and, you know,
• 20:49
  attract a lot of investors with a lot of false promises on the
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  ability of AI to basically be a closed loop process of, you
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  know, delivering high impact drugs quickly without, you know,
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  in, in a short amount of time and a high volume.
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  And I think what we've seen is when companies rely on that too
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  much. And we weren't seeing the
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  success in the clinic. And, and so I, I do believe that
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  to your question again, yes, there is that fear of missing
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  out. But I do also believe that
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  there's been a recalibration across the, the industry.
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  And I do believe positively that quite a few companies and, and
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  leaders are now looking at it more for a fit for purpose.
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  Where does it make sense for for their specific companies and
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  where can it be applied productively versus versus we
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  have to do this because if we don't, we're not going to get
• 21:56
  funding or we're not going to work, we're going to fall
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  behind. Yeah.
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  Completely. Great.
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  Thanks so much for coming on, Tony.
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  It's brings us to my final question, which is the same
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  question for every guest. If you if you could have dinner
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  with any scientists or innovator, past or present, who
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  would it be and why? It's a lot of people who I'd
• 22:21
  want to have dinner with to rack their brains on things.
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  I think the one that I would more from the innovation side
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  and actually more from the athletic side, given how much of
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  A presence that or how important athletics was in my past, is
• 22:34
  John Wooden. He was a legendary UCLA
• 22:38
  basketball coach. He won 10 NCAA championships,
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  including seven in a row, which is almost unprecedented and
• 22:45
  probably will never happen again.
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  But what I admire the most about John Wood, and I've read a lot
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  of his books, is this pyramid of success that you developed,
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  which centers on character discipline, teamwork, continuous
• 22:59
  improvement. All these things I had in my
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  mind and have had in my mind for years if I were to ever build a
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  company. And that's a lot of these things
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  are essential to building 10 to be another key belief of John
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  Wood and was realistic optimism. And my team hears me say that
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  all the time. And it's acknowledging the facts
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  and challenges ahead, but focusing on what we control and
• 23:26
  trusting that will find a path forward and succeed.
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  And and so that's in my mind, it's critical and and is
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  something that has helped me and a mindset that I try to bring as
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  a biotech CEO to Tenby everyday and to the teams.
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  Yeah, I love that. And it's gone hand in hand with
• 23:47
  the conversation we just had as well around all the mentality.
• 23:52
  It was an absolute pleasure to have you on, Tony.
• 23:55
  Thanks again, Max, really appreciate the time and and and
• 23:58
  the invitation again to talk about 10 B which it's my life
• 24:02
  and I love it. So appreciate, appreciate the
• 24:05
  time. Thank you so much and look
• 24:07
  please everyone like and subscribe to the bio hub and and
• 24:11
  thank you so much again, Tony.