Kat Kayser-Bricker, chief scientific officer for New Haven biotech Halda Therapeutics, was honored last year as the Entrepreneur of the Year in the state’s bioscience industry.
First presented in 2013, the annual award is given by New Haven-based BioCT, the state’s bioscience booster organization, and law firm Shipman & Goodwin.
The award honors outstanding innovators who are “imaginative, passionate and game-changers in Connecticut life sciences.”
Halda Therapeutics, located in New Haven’s Winchester Works building, is developing a novel class of cancer therapies called RIPTAC (Regulated Induced Proximity Targeting Chimeras) therapeutics — small molecules that selectively target cancer cells and “kill” them.
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In August, Halda said it raised $126 million in new funding; it has raised $202 million from investors since its 2018 inception.
The company is set to begin clinical trials in the spring.
Prior to joining Halda at its founding, Kayser-Bricker spent 10 years as a key scientific leader at FORMA Therapeutics, a public company that was acquired in 2022 by Novo Nordisk for $1.1 billion.
She has been a significant supporter of Connecticut’s life sciences industry as a volunteer leader on the steering committee for the Executive Women in Bio Connecticut chapter; the co-chair of the BioLaunch Advisory Committee for the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce; a board member of Modifi Bio; and a member of the BioCT board of directors.