Outpace Bio

Market position

Outpace positions itself among multiple biotechs attempting to extend the success of CAR T therapy from blood cancers to solid tumors, differentiating on de novo protein design rather than reuse of natural molecules; its Series B was reported as the 60th private biotech megaround of 2024.

Rather than optimizing a single gene or reusing existing biomolecules, Outpace designs new proteins to address several barriers to solid tumor efficacy simultaneously, and packages them as modular, plug-and-play assets that can be combined in one therapy and applied across cell types and manufacturing processes.

Technology

The core technology is AI-powered, de novo computational protein design applied to cellular engineering, spanning machine learning, synthetic biology, immunology and structural biology. Designed proteins and novel promoter elements are used to build modular assets: OUTSPACER CAR spacer libraries of fully human sequences for synapse geometry and potency; OUTSMART designed cytokines with regulated, tumor-localized expression; OUTLAST persistence technology using promoter elements and designed targeted degraders; OUTSAFE/EGFRopt, a fully human cetuximab-responsive safety switch also usable for cell selection and manufacturing QC; and logic-gated targeting that reads combinations of surface antigens for single-cell specificity. The company reports that OPB-101 completely eliminated solid tumors in stringent in vivo models at doses as low as 50,000 cells, and that EGFRopt gave faster, more complete ablation of CAR activity in vivo.

Go-to-market

Outpace pursues an internal pipeline of engineered T cell therapies aimed at rapid clinical validation of its platform, complemented by strategic collaborations with biopharma companies and academic groups that embed its modular technologies into other cell therapy products. It has a partnership with its originator, Lyell Immunopharma, on tumor-restricted IL-12 intended to avoid systemic exposure.

Patients with solid tumors — initially advanced platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer — reached through oncology clinical development, plus biopharma partners seeking to license or incorporate its cell-engineering technologies.

Geography

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, at 700 Dexter Ave N (Dexter Yard campus), with over 20,000 square feet dedicated to cell therapy research; manufacturing of cell therapies is carried out with an external CDMO.

History

The company traces its origins to work begun in 2014 at David Baker's Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington, where co-founders Marc Lajoie and Scott Boyken developed methods for designing proteins with moving parts and precise interactions to create new biological functions. From 2017 they collaborated with Stanley Riddell at Fred Hutch Cancer Center on proteins that help cell therapies kill tumor cells while sparing healthy tissue. In 2018 Lajoie, Boyken, Baker and Riddell, with Rick Klausner and Crystal Mackall, co-founded Lyell Immunopharma to industrialize several of these technologies. Outpace was then spun out of Lyell (the company's timeline dates this to 2021) with support from Lyell and outside investors to focus on efficacy and safety technologies for cell therapy. In 2022 Outpace co-founded the OpenFold AI Research Consortium supporting open-access protein folding and design software, and in 2023 it moved into new laboratory space at Seattle's Dexter Yard while expanding academic collaborations with the UW Institute for Protein Design and Fred Hutch Cancer Center.

Risks & controversies

Outpace's lead assets were pre-clinical as of the August 2024 Series B, with OPB-101 IND clearance and first dosing targeted for 2025 and OPB-201 clinic entry around 2026, so the platform remains clinically unvalidated in humans. The company also notes recruiting fraud impersonating Outpace in its careers materials.