Septerna, a biotechnology company discovering and advancing novel small molecule medicines targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), today announced that Jeffrey Finer, MD, PhD, has been named the company’s full-time Chief Executive Officer, transitioning from his current role as interim CEO.

“We are excited that Jeff will continue his role with Septerna as its full-time CEO, continuing the company’s significant momentum advancing its emerging pipeline of novel GPCR therapies and Native Complex™ platform, and growing a fantastic team,” said Jeffrey Tong, PhD, Chairman of the Board of Septerna and Partner at Third Rock Ventures. “Jeff’s deep experience in both company building and R&D leadership make him perfectly suited to lead Septerna and I can’t wait to see what he and the team are able to do in the coming years.”

Septerna was launched in January of 2022 with a $100 million Series A financing led by Third Rock Ventures. The company was founded to leverage its Native Complex^TM platform to overcome historic challenges of reaching the vast untapped potential of GPCR drug targets for a wide range of diseases. Under Jeff’s leadership, Septerna has built a powerful drug discovery engine and has advanced a rapidly growing early pipeline of novel GPCR drug candidates.

“We’ve made great early progress as a young company, delivering on the potential of our platform and building the right team to fully maximize it for the benefit of patients,” said Finer. “Our technology is allowing us to develop novel insights into GPCR target modulation at a rate that is unprecedented in the industry, and this is fueling our advancing portfolio of drug discovery programs. I’m thankful and thrilled to be able to continue leading our talented team of drug hunters as we all work towards the goal of advancing next-generation GPCR medicines for patients.”

Dr. Finer brings more than 35 years of research, clinical and business experience in senior leadership roles and has focused his career on breakthrough innovations that have included moving several first-in-class drugs into the clinic, developing novel technology platforms which integrate science and engineering, and company creation. In addition to being a Co-founder of Septerna, Jeff has helped create and launch multiple new biotech companies, including Maze Therapeutics and Ambys Medicines, and he has held R&D leadership positions at Theravance Biopharma, Five Prime Therapeutics, and Cytokinetics. Jeff has current roles on the boards of Strateos, Ambys, and Maze, and will continue as a Venture Partner at Third Rock. A full biography is available here.

About Septerna

Septerna, Inc. is a biotechnology company creating broad new drug discovery opportunities across many disease areas for the abundant drug target class of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The company’s Native Complex™ Platform recapitulates GPCRs with their native structure, function, and dynamics outside of the cellular environment to enable new technologies for industrial-scale drug discovery for the entire GPCR target class for the first time. Septerna has an emerging pipeline of GPCR-targeted small molecule drug discovery programs, along with growth potential to reach many GPCRs that have been undruggable and unexploited to date. Septerna was launched in 2022 by scientific founders who have made groundbreaking GPCR discoveries and by founding investor Third Rock Ventures. For more information, please visit www.septerna.com.

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