Key facts
- Reed Jobs' venture firm Yosemite focuses exclusively on oncology.
- Yosemite uses a combination of venture capital and philanthropic grants to fund biotech startups.
- AI is being integrated into drug discovery and clinical trial design, including building synthetic control arms.
- The firm is raising its second fund, targeting $350 million.
- Yosemite has pioneered epigenetic gene editing and safe gene editing delivery technologies.
Reed Jobs, son of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, is leading Yosemite, a venture firm dedicated to developing cancer treatments. Launched in 2023, Yosemite combines venture capital with philanthropic grants to build biotech companies from early academic research, focusing exclusively on oncology.
Jobs aims to make Yosemite a significant player by leveraging AI to accelerate drug discovery and clinical trial design. The firm is currently raising its second fund, targeting $350 million, with a third of the capital dedicated to companies Yosemite creates internally. The remaining two-thirds are invested in external companies.
Yosemite's strategy involves de-risking early-stage ideas from university labs through no-strings-attached philanthropy. Two companies from their first fund originated from such grants. The firm has pioneered technologies like epigenetic gene editing and safe delivery of gene editing to specific cells.
Jobs noted a shift in the biotech investment landscape, with increased pharmaceutical acquisition activity driven by a major patent cliff and substantial cash reserves. He highlighted successful exits and advancements in areas like antibody drug conjugates, citing Revolution Medicines' progress in targeting KRAS mutations for pancreatic cancer.
Regarding government funding, Jobs expressed concern over proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), though he anticipates bipartisan rejection of these cuts. He advocates for increased NIH funding, noting that its real value has shrunk over the past decade due to inflation.
Jobs sees significant potential for AI in healthcare, particularly in streamlining clinical trials by creating synthetic control arms, which could drastically reduce costs and time. He also believes AI is accelerating drug discovery by identifying new protein targets and enabling the development of drugs for previously undruggable proteins, referencing the work on KRAS mutations as an example.