Sam Blackman

Hey folks, for what it’s worth, I’m now firmly established on Bluesky. Hope to see you there soon!

@ronalfa @srikosuri Yes. Happy to help. Please DM me with your email and cell #.

@srikosuri @drsam have have some leads?

It’s been a tough few weeks. My 10yo daughter was diagnosed with a very rare, aggressive cancer called interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma (IDCS). I’m reaching out to identify clinicians/patients who have encountered pediatric IDCS, indeterminate dendritic cell histiocytosis or other (non-LCH) histiocytic sarcomas cases. I'm trying to understand non-surgical chemo and targeted therapy options, new pathology markers to better diagnose subtypes/treatments, and any data on progression in pediatric patients. Please feel free to share – I’m trying to cast a wide net due to the rarity of this condition and how little is known. People can contact me directly at my first name (as written in my profile) at octant.bio.

The irony that @NYTGames left #GenX out of a puzzle about generations with the theme “generation gap” is so f’ing rich … #okboomer @nytimes #whatever

Tell your Senators: Oppose Kennedy for Health and Human Services Secretary 👇 actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-y… via @TheDemCoalition #ResistTrump

Twitter: you kinda/sorta got mentioned in my end of year Top Ten list. Kinda. Sorta. linkedin.com/pulse/top-10-t…

Hey team @BiotechCH: when are you going to move over to Bluesky? Y’all should probably claim an account, even if it’s a placeholder.

I'll have more to say about it in the coming days. Those of you who know me know that I'll write something longer. I want to simply say thank you to everyone who, over the past 6-1/2 years, helpd made the dream of @DayOneBio into a reality. ir.dayonebio.com/news-releases/…

I’m kvelling.

I see what you did there. @GovTimWalz @KamalaHarris #doritos

Last day of 55. Happy to start the next year with hope (thank you @KamalaHarris and @GovTimWalz), mission and passion (thank you @DayOneBio), a goal (thank you @ldtimmerman), friends, and of course, my family.

Day One is thrilled to be featured in Times Square today! The expansion of our pipeline with DAY301 is an exciting milestone to further our mission to bring ground-breaking treatments to people of all ages with cancer.

We’re thrilled to expand our pipeline and we look forward to bringing this new molecule into the clinic. I am also very excited to work on ADCs again. Understanding of this therapeutic class has grown significantly over the past 10yrs. I’m excited to put that knowledge to work!

Fabulous way to start #ASCO24! @AACRPres and @ranjitbindra in the house. I also had a Marge spotting last night (but no selfie). @AACR

Let's *hope* that this weather forecast is accurate as it will make #ASCO24 a joy (I hate a muggy, hot ASCO, with those 4p thunderstorms when people are trying to rush from McCormick to downtown).

During #BrainTumorAwarenessMonth, we’re committed to shining a light on the profound impact the disease has on children and their families, and the crucial need for more research, treatment options, and support. Join us in raising awareness as we #GoGrayInMay

Waiting to see if VHs “Eruption” shows up in this playlist.

Ok. An opening set of all instrumental tracks is pretty cool. Took me 15 minutes too hear that’s what you were doing. Truly showing why #MusicMatters. Thanks @djjohnrichards and @kexp for another fantastic morning on the 7th best day of the week.

@DrSarcoma @drbirgularslan @LifeSciVC @JacobPlieth @SFBIZronleuty @JuliePapanek @DFCI_ChemBio @DanaFarber @DFBC_PedCare @DayOneBio For more you can listen to us discuss the program on @ldtimmerman's podcast The Long Run: timmermanreport.com/2021/08/better…

@DrSarcoma @drbirgularslan @LifeSciVC @JacobPlieth @SFBIZronleuty @JuliePapanek @DFCI_ChemBio @DanaFarber @DFBC_PedCare @DayOneBio We saw a few of the responses from the first part of the PNOC014 trial and it confirmed our belief: this could be a drug for pLGG patients. With that, we set to work to negotiate for the drug, and the rest is history.

With the approval of tovorafenib by $DAWN, it’s worth celebrating the long journey of R&D in our business. Others have written on this better (@JacobPlieth @SFBIZronleuty), but here’s the short story: The molecule was discovered in a collaboration between Sunesis & Biogen that started 20 years ago. Biogen deprioritized oncology under CEO Scangos and stopped working on RAF in 2010, reverting rights back to Sunesis. But tovo was covered by key patents from the collaboration, which were assigned to Sunesis. Fwiw, two of the co-inventors of tovo later became Atlas entrepreneurs: Gnanasambandam Kumar Kumaravel (Padlock) and Alexey Lugovsky (Diagonal). Small world of both the Biogen diaspora and the @atlasventure network. Takeda licensed it from Sunesis in 2011, and over next 6-7 years its clinical work in melanoma failed to deliver. Physician-scientist/pediatric oncologist @drsam co-founded Day One with @JuliePapanek in 2019 to focus on pediatric cancer. They license tovo from Takeda in 2020, and my partner @MikeNGladstone convinced Atlas to join Canaan Partners in the $60M Series A, as did Access Industries. Company goes public in a 2021 IPO. Sunesis retained some economics in tovo. It did a reverse merger in 2021, and became Viracta. It sold its tovo milestones/royalties to Xoma later that year. After the success of Firefly-1 in pediatric LGG, tovo (Ojemda) was granted accelerated approval, with the ongoing Phase 3 Firefly-2 study underway. Amazing journey, with many teams participating along the way. It takes a village... or at least a collaborative ecosystem... to bring drugs to patients.