Epizyme is a biopharmaceutical company located in Cambridge, MA. Founded in late 2007, the company has brought together premier academic and industry leaders to rapidly translate the exciting discoveries emerging from epigenetic research into specific programs that will produce important, novel, molecularly targeted drugs of the future.

The Company’s founding was initially catalyzed by the securing of a large and important IP estate from Professor Yi Zhang of The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC). Dr. Zhang is a scientific co-founder of Epizyme and a leader in identifying and characterizing new and important enzymes that contribute to epigenetic control.

Nobel Laureate Professor Robert Horvitz of MIT co-founded Epizyme with Dr. Zhang and leads an accomplished and highly engaged SAB that helps guide the company in selecting compelling epigenetic targets and evolving them into robust discovery programs that incorporate rigorous biological considerations, prioritization based on indications and clinical needs, along with a forward-looking practical approach to development.

Epizyme’s uniquely experienced management team is composed of successful drug hunters who have worked in both biotech and pharma. Each member of the team has an extensive track record for creating and delivering numerous high-quality drug candidates beginning at the earliest stages of discovery and leading all the way to approved, marketed drugs. Based on the company’s focus on novel epigenetic targets, the scientific management team includes a renowned mechanistic biochemist who has published well-known books used in the industry to guide drug discovery along with a cancer biologist who was the inventor and helped to develop the first HDAC inhibitor (Zolinza®, vorinostat) to be FDA approved. This internal team is complemented by a world-class SAB whose members work in unusually close partnership with Epizyme’s in-house scientists and management. The result is a scientific team that pairs seasoned industrial drug discovery and development experience with first-rate, cutting edge scientists and that can therefore work most effectively and efficiently to advance Epizyme’s R&D programs.

Epizyme is strategically focused on a major class of epigenetic enzymes called histone methyltransferases (HMTs). Data are emerging that indicate that HMTs are involved in various diseases including cancer, inflammation, and CNS disorders. Epizyme has selected several HMTs with compelling validation data and is rapidly advancing these targets through active drug discovery programs focused initially on cancer indications.

Epizyme is developing an integrated biology and chemistry platform to specifically enable the prosecution of HMTs in a highly efficient and effective manner. The platform is central to Epizyme’s rapid development of a robust pipeline of programs that will feature first-in-class small molecule inhibitors of HMTs. Hand in hand with our discovery efforts, Epizyme is pursuing an aggressive IP strategy to create a dominant patent estate in this area.

KPCB and MPM co-led Epizyme’s Series A financing. The expertise and financial scale of these investors position Epizyme to be the premier company translating new epigenetic mechanisms into compelling pharmaceutical products of tomorrow.