Roots of new biotech startup begin with Yale discovery and a $10 billion deal

More than a decade ago, Yale scientist Craig Crews’ curiosity about why a natural product had anti-cancer properties led to the development of a drug to combat multiple myeloma, which California pharmaceutical company Amgen recently paid $10.4 billion to acquire.

Now Crews, the Lewis B. Cullman Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and professor of chemistry and of pharmacology, has launched Arvinas, a new biotechnology company in New Haven developing a novel way to treat cancers.

On Sept. 26, the company announced it had raised $15 million in equity financing and $3.25 million in loan financing from the state of Connecticut. For more on the new startup and its history, click here.