Ventus Therapeutics

Waltham/Montréal innate-immunity small-molecule company; computation-first ReSOLVE platform; cGAS inhibitor in Phase 2a.

1. Core Product / Service

Ventus emerged from stealth in May 2020 after about 18 months. It was incubated by Versant Ventures' Montréal discovery engine; its Series A first closed in Q4 2019 [5]. It targets innate-immune proteins (NLRP3, cGAS, caspase-4/5). Its ReSOLVE platform combines "AI/ML, protein science, structural biology, and biophysics" [1]. The core is computational: unrestrained molecular dynamics generates "millions of conformations", maps water networks in binding pockets into a 3D "hydrocophore" blueprint, and drives virtual screens of billion-compound libraries [1]. ML is one layer on top of that physics.

Pipeline (Oct 2026) [1][7][8][9]:

• VENT-03 (oral cGAS inhibitor): Phase 2a in cutaneous lupus, recruiting; topline guided for 2H 2026.
• VENT-02 (brain-penetrant NLRP3): a Parkinson's Phase 2a was terminated for "sponsor decision" after 29 patients (Oct 2025). No data have been released.
• VENT-04 (caspase-4/5): development candidate nominated in Jan 2026, the seventh from ReSOLVE.
• VENT-01 (peripheral NLRP3): licensed to Novo Nordisk, entered Phase 1 in 2024.

Wet lab. Ventus has about 37,000 sf in total: a ~13,000 sf office/lab in Waltham, MA, opened 2022, for structural biology, biochemistry, protein, molecular and cell biology; and a ~24,000 sf site in Montréal, opened July 2024, for medicinal and computational chemistry, DMPK and disease biology [3][4]. It does in-house protein engineering, expression and structure determination, and has solved NLRP3 and cGAS structures [1]. There is no disclosed robotic HTS. The model is billion-scale virtual screening followed by a small number of wet-lab tests. Headcount was ~97 in mid-2025 per a third-party estimate, followed by two workforce reductions that year (the second only in summary coverage). No CRO or CDMO is named.

2. Target Users & Pain Points

• Patients / own pipeline: lupus, neuroinflammation (Parkinson's), inflammatory bowel disease, hidradenitis, respiratory inflammation.
• Pharma partners: Novo Nordisk (VENT-01 for cardiometabolic disease, MASH and CKD) and Genentech (ReSOLVE-based discovery against multiple targets) [2][6].
• Pain addressed: innate-immune targets have shallow, flexible pockets. Water-network modelling is meant to find binding sites that static structures miss.

3. Competitive Landscape

4. Unique Observations

• "AI" here is mostly physics. The differentiation is molecular dynamics and water maps, with ML on top. In 2025 the company said it would invest further in ReSOLVE's ML capabilities while cutting staff [1].
• The platform sells better than the pipeline so far. The Genentech deal (Oct 2025; undisclosed upfront, milestones "exceeding $460M") covers ReSOLVE discovery only, with no pipeline asset. It came the same month VENT-02 was terminated [2][9].
• Capital-light by necessity. No equity round since the $140M Series C in Feb 2022 [5]. Ventus has run on that money plus partner cash, with a footprint well below the 50–90k sf typical of better-funded AI biotechs.

5. Financials / Funding

• Series A $60M (2019–20, Versant); Series B $100M (Apr 2021, RA Capital); Series C $140M (Feb 2022, co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and RA Capital) [5].
• Cumulative equity $300M.
• Non-dilutive: Novo Nordisk $70M upfront plus R&D funding and up to $633M in milestones (2022) [6]; Genentech upfront undisclosed [2].

6. People & Relationships

• CEO: Marcelo Bigal (ex-Teva CMO/CSO). CSO: Michael Crackower (ex-Versant). ReSOLVE founder: Dan McKay (ex-Novartis, Merck Frosst computational chemistry).
• Academic founders include Hao Wu, Richard Flavell, Judy Lieberman and Thomas Tuschl; the founder list has varied between five and seven names.
• Investors: Versant, RA Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, GV, a16z. Partners: Novo Nordisk, Genentech.

Sources

• [1] Ventus Therapeutics, ReSOLVE platform page (2026-10-14)
• [2] Ventus Therapeutics, Genentech collaboration press release (Oct 2025; accessed 2026-10-14)
• [3] Business Wire, Ventus opens Waltham facility (Sept 2022; accessed 2026-10-14)
• [4] Business Wire, Ventus Montréal facility (July 2024; accessed 2026-10-14)
• [5] BioSpace, Ventus $140M Series C (2026-10-14)
• [6] Fierce Biotech, Novo pays Ventus $70M for NLRP3 program (2026-10-14)
• [7] ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06822517, VENT-02 Parkinson's study (2026-10-14)
• [8] ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07260877, VENT-03 cutaneous lupus study (2026-10-14)
• [9] Endpoints News, Ventus stops Phase 2 of NLRP3 inhibitor (2026-10-14)