Origami Therapeutics, Inc. Selected as a CONNECT Cool Company of 2021

SAN DIEGO, May 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Origami Therapeutics http://origamitherapeutics.com, a discovery-stage company taking a precision medicine approach to discover disease-modifying treatments for neurodegeneration, announced today it has been selected as one of 13 life science "Cool Companies for 2021" by Connect. Origami was selected from a pool of over 150 tech and life science applicants.

Every year Connect gathers applications from tech and life science startup companies around the San Diego region from which they select around 30 to introduce to investors across the country. The program neutrally selects top tier, local entrepreneurs raising institutional funding, and grants them opportunities for direct access to capital providers, attracting over 200 Venture Capitalists to the region annually. Since 2015, Cool Companies have raised over $650M, just in Institutional Series A funding.

"It is exciting to be included in such an outstanding group of innovative companies," said Beth J. Hoffman, PhD, Founder, President and CEO of Origami. "The San Diego biotech ecosystem is a great place to build a company and we are keen to present our novel therapeutic approach to investors."

Leveraging the Founder's experience in discovering transformational therapies for Cystic Fibrosis that modulate CFTR conformation, Origami's focus is to treat neurodegeneration by directly modulating the pathogenic proteins that cause disease in order to restore physiologic balance. Their platform enables discovery of both protein degraders and conformation correctors, allowing them to match the best drug to treat each disease by using patient-derived disease models to ensure success in clinical trials.

About Connect

Connect is a San Diego community nonprofit passionate about entrepreneurs, innovation, and improving the economy. One of the nation's first startup accelerators, Connect was founded in 1985 by the University of California San Diego. UCSD in partnership with the San Diego Regional EDC and private sector businesses, recognized the opportunity to establish an organization to transform San Diego's growing research capabilities into an economic driver to increase the prosperity of the region. Connect serves entrepreneurs and startups from early stage throughout their growth journey, with a suite of curated programs and events aimed to help companies grow, gain access to capital, and scale.

About Origami Therapeutics

Origami is applying its deep expertise in small molecule modulators of protein conformation to identify novel treatments for neurological diseases like Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other dementias. Currently, the Company is selecting the optimal protein degrader molecule to advance into preclinical testing for Huntington's disease, a devastating fatal disease that strikes at the prime of life. Origami's strategy is to identify compounds that spare normal protein function, thereby maintaining physiologic balance and preventing negative consequences of loss-of-function. Origami Therapeutics, Inc. aims to develop therapies with the potential to prevent, halt or slow progression of disease, resulting in a normal quality of life and normal productivity for patients and their families. For more information, please visit http://origamitherapeutics.com.  

CONTACT: Leslie J. Schulze, CFO, [email protected]

SOURCE Origami Therapeutics