The Organizational Strength Behind Notable Labs
Notable Labs is a biotech startup on a mission to validate its name, and make notable waves in the way cancer is treated. It traces back to the moving story of founder Matthew De Silva, an investment analyst turned biotech entrepreneur after his father was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an extremely aggressive brain cancer that has limited options for treatment.
De Silva was frustrated by the lack of treatment options, as well as the approach to selecting a cancer treatment. In 2014, he decided to create the change he wanted to see in healthcare, aiming to create a company that could leverage data and technology to identify the most effective treatments, and create an individualized care plan for each patient, heralding the era of precision medicine.
De Silva saw an opportunity to apply his background in finance and investment, and teamed up with physician-scientist Dr. Thomas Bock, whose extensive background in hematology/oncology provided the medical acumens for De Silva to establish Notable Labs in 2014. The goal of the newborn company was to develop a platform that utilized data science to rapidly test and identify the best existing drugs for each individual cancer patient’s disease, thereby creating personalized precision medicine and improving treatment outcomes.
Meet The People Behind Notable Labs
The company is notable not only for its product and mission, but also for its people. In addition to founder Matthew De Silva and CEO Dr. Thomas Bock, the team also includes several other esteemed individuals, each of them uniquely qualified to help guide Notable Lab’s growth to success and deliver its mission.
Dr. Joseph Wagner joined in 2020 as the Chief Scientific Officer in 2020, bringing nearly 20 years of biotech experience to Notable, ensuring the company’s scientific approach remains at the forefront of innovation.
Dr. Glenn Michelson joined in 2023 as Chief Medical Officer, bringing his 25 years of pharmaceutical experience to Notable, where he oversees clinical trials and clinical development.
Scott McPherson is the company’s Chief Financial Officer, having founded his own company in 2005 and holding CFO positions in various environmental, cybersecurity, and biotech companies.
Michele Galen is a Board Director, bringing ample experience as Chief Communications Officer at previous pharmaceutical companies including Novartis, Shire Pharmaceuticals, and Cardax, as well as global public relations.
Peter Feinberg is a Board Director, with decades of experience in financial services. He founded his own biotechnology company in 2020, Sporos Bioventures, with a similar mission of revolutionizing the cancer drug development process; in 2014, he founded his previous company BridgeBio Pharma, with the goal of focusing on genetic disease therapy.
Michael Rice is a Board Director seasoned in portfolio management, investment banking, and capital markets. He also serves on the board of directors for VBL, 9 Meters Biopharma, and Navidea Biopharmaceuticals.
Thomas Graney is a Board Director with ample experience in commercial strategy and supply chain management, having served as CEO of Oxurion NV and previously as the CFO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and Generation Bio. He also serves as a board member of the Audit Committee of Mogrify.
Tuomo Pätsi is a Board Director bringing 30 years of experience in biotech as an advisor. He was instrumental to multiple strategic deals, including the integration of Celgene and Bristol-Myers-Squibb Company.
Thomas I. H. Dubin is a Board Director and pharmaceutical executive and attorney. He has served as an advisor and board member to Warner-Lambert Company, and is currently Executive Chair of Cellphone Therapeutics, Norwalk Hospital, and was the Chief Legal Officer of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.
The company is headquartered in Foster City, California, and boasts a team of over 30 esteemed scientists and engineers. Notable Labs has partnered with multiple renowned hospitals across the United States to better treat cancer, including MD Anderson, Stanford, University of California San Francisco, and Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Notable Lab’s Drug Selection Process
At the heart of Notable Labs’ approach to precision medicine is its proprietary drug screening platform, called the Precision Predictive Medicine Platform (PMPP). It is designed to automate and expedite the rapid testing of numerous drugs on each patient’s cancer cells.
When a surgeon or radiologist takes a sample of the patient’s cancer cells in a biopsy, it’s then shipped to Notable Labs where robotic automation technology tests the cancer cells against a vast library of FDA-approved drugs, as well as treatments in clinical trials and under investigation. The cancer cells are cultured and tested with these drugs; the results are then analyzed and quantified by how many cells the drugs killed or inhibited. Sophisticated machine learning algorithms help identify the most promising drugs for that patient’s cancer treatment, and the results are used to generate a report, which gets sent back to the patient’s physician for consideration into their treatment plan.
The key advantage of Notable’s automated, data-driven approach is the patient-specific context. Live cells derived from the patient’s cancer cells are used in the analysis, so the results of the testing are tailored to the genotype, not a generic cell line that might be used in other labs. This allows Notable to identify the treatments most likely to be effective, and with great confidence given the exhaustive number of drugs tested. Therefore, physicians can focus on the drugs that will most likely work and avoid drugs that probably won’t, yielding better outcomes for the patient and saving time and costs on healthcare. This is the ultimate example of personalized medicine, and its application to cancer is just the beginning of an exciting new chapter in medicine and biotechnology.
Conclusion
Notable Labs stands at the forefront of personalized cancer treatment, driven by a passionate and dedicated team, innovative technology, and a commitment to improving patient outcomes. The company's founding story, rooted in a personal quest to find better cancer treatments, has evolved into a pioneering effort to revolutionize oncology care. By leveraging advanced drug screening technologies and a patient-centric approach, Notable Labs is poised to make significant strides in the fight against cancer, offering hope and new possibilities for patients worldwide.
About the Author
Conor is a fourth-year medical student at New York Medical College, with a strong interest in cancer, radiology, and medical research. He is also an avid writer, having published articles in science magazines like Discover, multiple papers in medical journals, and is also a freelance general copywriter for healthcare, technology, and business websites. He has a BS from Muhlenberg College, an MS from New York Medical College, and will earn his MD in 2025.
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