Grammy-Nominated Artist Pivots to Biotech Startup Tackling Pancreatic Cancer
Aloe Blacc, a famous musician, faced challenges funding biotech research despite his fame. Now, he's bootstrapping a cancer drug platform targeting pancreatic cancer.
When Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc got COVID despite being vaccinated and boosted, he tried to fund research for a better solution. What he quickly found out? You can't just write a check in biotech. Regulators require a commercialization plan, and philanthropy doesn't move science through clinical trials or get you a license on university IP.
Undeterred, Blacc is now bootstrapping a cancer drug platform targeting pancreatic cancer, a disease that kills most patients within a year of diagnosis. With his musical fame offering little sway in the biotech world, Blacc is learning the ropes of drug development, intellectual property, and regulatory approval from the ground up.
Blacc's journey into biotech began when he tried to fund COVID-19 research after his own breakthrough infection.
Source: TechCrunch
