Odyssey Therapeutics continues the immunology journey of serial biotech entrepreneur Gary Glick, who is pursuing drugs that could offer advantages over many currently available medicines. The Odyssey CEO’s ventures have drawn the backing of blue chip biotech investors persuaded by his research success. With Odyssey’s IPO, a broader range of investors now have the opportunity to buy into Glick’s strategy.
Late Thursday, Odyssey priced 15.5 million shares — 2.3 million more than initially planned — at $18 each, which was the top of the projected price range. Concurrent with the IPO, Odyssey sold nearly 1.4 million shares at the IPO price to an affiliate of TPG Life Sciences Innovation. This private placement raised about $25.2 million, bringing the company’s financial haul to $304 million. Odyssey’s shares began trading on the Nasdaq Friday under the stock symbol “ODTX.”
Glick’s previous immunology companies include First Wave Bio and IFM Therapeutics. When Glick launched Boston-based Odyssey in 2021, he told MedCity News that this company was the culmination of his more than 30 years in bioscience research dating to his days as a University of Michigan chemistry professor. At first, Odyssey’s drug research spanned cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company has since narrowed its scope to autoimmune disease.
Odyssey’s research focuses specifically on the innate immune system, which is the body’s frontline defense. This approach distinguishes Odyssey’s drugs from many currently available therapies that target the secondary line of defense, the adaptive immune system. According to the IPO filing, the company believes acting upstream could complement existing therapies by making its molecules part of multi-drug regimens. This approach could also reduce the risk of immunosuppression risk, which is a problem for many currently available medicines.
Lead program OD-001 is in development for ulcerative colitis, a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This drug is an oral small molecule designed to inhibit RIPK2, a signaling protein of the innate immune system that’s associated with IBD. In the IPO filing, Odyssey said that despite availability of more than 10 approved IBD therapies, placebo-adjusted remission rates hit a “therapeutic ceiling” of 25%. The company adds that 45% of responders to existing therapies lose that response within five years.
Odyssey has advanced OD-001 through an open-label Phase 2a study evaluating the study drug as a monotherapy. The drug was safe and well tolerated and results also showed signs of patient benefit. The company now plans to advance OD-001 to a placebo-controlled Phase 2a study testing the small molecule in combination with Takeda’s Entyvio, a standard of care IBD drug.
“We believe this will be the first assessment of an innate plus an adaptive immune therapy for IBD and given the mechanism of RIPK2 as compared to approved or investigational therapies, that it can enable orthogonal combinations to both potentially improve efficacy and also prevent the development of resistance through targeting of inflammatory monocytes, a key cell type that is present in patients with resistance to existing advanced therapies,” Odyssey said in the filing.
Odyssey also wants to assess its lead drug as a monotherapy. A Phase 2b study is planned to begin in the second half of the year, testing OD-001 against a placebo. For the induction period, the time during which a drug therapy gets symptoms under control, preliminary results from the Phase 2a and Phase 2b studies are expected in the second half of 2027. Following the induction periods, OD-001 would be further assessed as a maintenance treatment.
The next Odyssey program is OD-002, a small molecule inhibitor of a target called SLC15A4. In the filing, the company said both OD-001 and OD-002 have the potential to treat a range of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including disorders driven by pathogenic B cells. While the most advanced Odyssey programs are small molecules, the company’s preclinical research spans other types of drugs, including protein therapeutics and regulatory T cells.
Since its 2021 inception, Odyssey said it had raised $726.5 million, most recently a $213 million Series D round last September. SR One is the largest shareholder with a 7.2% post-IPO stake, followed by the 6% stake owned by OrbiMed, the filing shows. As of the end of 2025, Odyssey reported its cash position was $216.6 million.
With the IPO proceeds, Odyssey plans to spend about $135 million for the Phase 2a and Phase 2b tests of OD-001 in ulcerative colitis. Odyssey has also budgeted $50 million to advance OD-002 from late preclinical research into a Phase 1/2a study. The company said it expects its capital will fund operations into the second half of 2028.
Photo by Odyssey Therapeutics
