What does Pathway Bio do and how do you hope it will help people with cancer?
Pathway Bio predicts which therapies are likely to have the most optimal outcome in cancer patients, providing clinicians the knowledge they need to serve their patients and in guiding their therapeutic journey with data and insights validated on their tumour biology. We are anchored on multi-omic analysis, AI, and leverage biological avatars of the individual’s tumour to predict and screen therapies before they are prescribed to the individual.
Our biological avatars are developed outside of the body and capture the characteristics of the tumour, at high-fidelity, in six days, and we screen therapies based on our modelling and clinical guidance. Our technology is redefining precision medicine in the modern era, an individualised approach to treating patients based on their biology, tested and validated at Pathway Bio. Focusing on advanced cancer patients and hard-to-treat cancers first, our platform will lead to better outcomes for patients and better outcomes for healthcare systems, earlier.
Capturing the mindset of entrepreneurs is something I must build on every day.
You have lots of experience helping to grow other start-ups through advisory roles and your work with Illumina for Startups. What has it been like to launch your own?
Sitting on one side of the table advising or supporting start-ups and founders to realise their dreams has been a privilege. Now, sitting on the other side of the table has been an eye-opener! Having worked in industry for quite some time and being able to use that experience for Pathway Bio, I thought it would be a natural transition. However, capturing the mindset of entrepreneurs is something I must build on every day. What I saw in our entrepreneurs – their persistence, resilience, a get-stuff-done attitude, a hunger to do whatever it takes and an unwavering belief in their vision to change the world – takes a lot of courage and adopting that mindset doesn’t come easy.
In my case, the reason I first thought to build Pathway Bio is very overwhelming and personal to me. My friend was diagnosed with late-stage cancer, and was young, healthy and fit. After each therapy failed, and genomic tests didn’t yield much insight, she was left with limited options and eventually no positive outcome. This was unacceptable to me, and for those that go through this every day.
This is a reminder to me to keep going each day, step by step, one breath after another. It has made the transition more manageable – very rewarding but not easy by any means. Start-up life is just not easy, and sacrifices have to be made, but knowing you are going to create change for the better, even for one person, makes it all worthwhile. Never lose sight of the ‘why’ and jump in with both feet!
One of the benefits of joining KQ Labs is it lends its privileges to those that may not have them.
What's the most valuable thing you took from the KQ Labs programme?
I think founder life can get lonely – having to make decisions, take actions, set priorities, build teams and so on. KQ Labs provided us with a community that made us feel less alone. Based on where we were when we joined the programme, to where we are now, I would say KQ Labs will have had a hand in shaping what Pathway Bio will look like in years to come.
Through the KQ Labs team, mentors and especially the other cohort members and alumni, the experience has enriched our journey, as a team and personally. The programme was not too prescriptive and allowed us to tap into the ecosystem as we needed, tailoring sessions to what we needed in the moment versus what we might need in the next six months. One of the benefits of joining KQ Labs is it lends its privileges to those that may not have them – that is, access to well-seasoned individuals that have worn the T-shirt a few times over and have agreed to provide their experience and time to support us.
What advice would you give to someone who wanted to launch a data-driven health start-up?
Pathway Bio is a healthtech company, which means we have a very strong data engineering component underpinning the company. As we are tackling a clinical problem first, the first advice I would say is to know who your customer is – talk to them! Only then can you know what your product should be and if your solution fits the gap in the market. For us, it means incorporating the clinician’s and healthcare view on how we can help them serve their patients.
The second point I would make is that being data-driven doesn’t mean the data is actionable, especially as we look to leverage multimodal data – it's messy and cluttered, so let engineers do their job with the plumbing. If you are in the clinical space, think about investing early in data privacy, security and compliance, and not as an afterthought.
The other learnings we have had is to get an early understanding of regulatory, pricing policies and payor sentiment, in which your product will fit into. The go-to-market element is no less important than the science or technology.
Of course, there are the common themes on building the right team and experience (very important), articulating milestones and being relentless in achieving them, and building relationships with investors, but one thing I would add is don’t get distracted with shiny things and buzzwords. Stay focused on your priorities and do them well.
Build a start-up that you will be proud of.
Our focus is on demonstrating the predictive power of our platform.
What's next for Pathway Bio?
We got incorporated in October 2024 and were very fortunate to collaborate with Mayo Clinic from day one to build Pathway Bio. We have set ourselves some ambitious milestones for 2025, focusing on our data engineering platform, transferring critical and unique technology from Mayo Clinic into our lab, building on the validation data that Mayo Clinic has on 400 patients, and verifying our platform through our observational studies to further build our analytical and clinical proof that forms the basis of clinical studies and future regulatory filings.
Our focus is on demonstrating the predictive power of our platform, which will truly change the way in which clinicians use data to guide their decisions, without changing care pathways. Furthermore, we continue to assess opportunities that can help validate our platform, working with biopharma partners to generate insights that fuel our engine. We look to raise our seed round in 2026, so there is a lot of work to be done! Step by step.
You can find our more about Pathway Bio at https://pw-bio.com/.