Poplar Therapeutics is seeking a “step change” in the treatment of food allergy and other atopic conditions, with $95 million raised to date, including a $45 million series A extension that closed Tuesday.
You may remember Chip Baird as the figurehead of 2seventy, the cell therapy biotech that struggled as a cancer-focused standalone and ultimately sold off to Bristol Myers Squibb in March 2025 for $286 million.
That was a pretty good end to a tumultuous few years. Looking back on the sale, Baird told BioSpace that he was happy to know the staff would have a place to land.
“It made a ton of sense for the program, for shareholders. All cash deal, really healthy premium, and we felt good about it, because most of the workforce had a path forward to a potential role with BMS,” Baird said.
He, however, would not having a landing pad. “BMS already had a CEO,” Baird quipped.
And so, he spent the summer thinking about his next move and listening for what was spurring the most excitement across the biotech world. He quickly ruled out the CAR T space, having spent the past few years on the technology.
“I kind of widened the aperture. That was really the goal, over the summer,” Baird said. “I heard a lot of different stories, and ultimately, the one I got the most excited about was Poplar.”
And so, the week before the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in early January, Poplar Therapeutics officially launched with Baird as CEO. At the same time, the company announced a $50 million series A to support Phase 1 trials for PHB-050 in food allergy and other atopic conditions. Poplar followed the series A with an extension fundraising on Tuesday, adding $45 million.
Baird credits scientific founder and chief scientific officer Tony Yao with sparking his interest and nuturing that spark into a full-fledged fire. “As I was doing my diligence and asking him questions about the program, you couldn’t outflank him. He really had thought of everything one could have in terms of the design of the program.” He called Yao’s knowledge of the allergy space “encyclopedic.”
Baird knows that drug discovery is a risky business, no matter how prepared you are. But his interactions with Yao gave him confidence in Poplar.
“What struck me was that it could still not work for things that can’t be known today,” Baird said. “But I walked away from that feeling like it won’t fail because we didn’t think of something.”
The world will get to know Poplar quickly this year. The early-stage program for PHB-050 is expected to produce data in the second half. The drug is a next-generation anti-IgE antibody that is expected to tackle multiple atopic diseases, such as food allergy, asthma and atopic dermatitis. It could also have applications in less common immunology and inflammatory diseases. It’s designed to block IgE from binding to mast cells that trigger allergic reactions as well as to reduce circulating IgE and inhibit its production.
While the early trial focuses on food allergy, Baird said the learnings will help inform an expansion into other conditions.
Poplar will be going up against a heavy hitter in the industry: Genentech and Novartis’ Xolair, which has a broad label for allergic conditions including food allergy and asthma. Baird said that PHB-050 works differently than the incumbent therapy. While Xolair also binds and sequesters IgE, the drug does not eliminate it. PHB-050, on the other hand, could actually drive IgE to zero, he said.
Additionally, Baird said that Xolair must be injected every two weeks. PHB-050 will likely be every four weeks.
“One of the principal questions that we get when we meet with investors . . . is the competitive landscapes,” Baird said. “The competitive landscape is, I would say, intense right now, and so I think being differentiated is important in terms of having something that could transform the way these diseases are treated.”
He is not naive to think that Poplar can simply walk in and push Xolair aside, however. The approved drug has seen rapid uptake in its newest indication of IgE-mediated food allergy, with about 85,000 U.S. patients receiving prescriptions since the February 2024 FDA nod.
But Baird says there are actually about 7 million patients with higher-risk food allergy that result in an ER visit, meaning there’s plenty of untapped market. And patients with higher IgE levels and higher body weight are unable to take Xolair, the CEO explained.
To tap into the rest of the market, Baird reiterated that Poplar will have to create a differentiated product. “We’re not looking for something incremental. We’re looking for something different [that’s] sort of a step change forward.”
