BridgeBio Pharma Announces Founding Affiliation with Bakar Labs, Incubator at UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBIO), a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on genetic diseases and cancers, today announced its founding affiliation with Bakar Labs, the incubator at UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub. Bakar Labs was established by the University of California (UC), Berkeley and QB3, UC’s research institute for innovation and entrepreneurship in the life sciences and is open to academic researchers from around the world. The Labs will host up to 50 innovative life science start-up companies seeking to advance promising research.

“Partnering with UC Berkeley and QB3 to launch Bakar Labs is a natural extension of our mission to discover, create, test, and deliver transformative medicines to as many patients as possible. Through this collaboration, we aim to strengthen the Bay Area biotech ecosystem and potentially unlock new therapies for patients with unmet needs,” said BridgeBio founder and CEO Neil Kumar, Ph.D.

The multi-disciplinary startup companies at Bakar Labs are supported by world-class facilities, resources, and expertise from industry and academia. BridgeBio intends to review discoveries, provide support to entrepreneurs, and consider possible partnership opportunities with startups focused on potential therapies for patients with genetically-driven diseases and cancers.

"We admire BridgeBio's innovation in pioneering a decentralized model with shared resources, addressing vital unmet needs for therapies for genetic diseases," said Regis Kelly, Ph.D., OBE, director of Bakar Labs. "We look forward to learning from and interacting with BridgeBio as we develop Bakar Labs as a shared resource for entrepreneurs developing a wide range of new biotechnologies."

A core part of BridgeBio’s efforts to help patients is the identification of new discoveries in academia. With an extensive pipeline and research and development capabilities, BridgeBio seeks to provide the insights and support needed to rapidly progress promising academic research from labs to clinical development. This new partnership will allow the Company to play a role in finding and accelerating research for patients as quickly and safely as possible.

About BridgeBio Pharma, Inc.
BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (BridgeBio) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company founded to discover, create, test and deliver transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from genetic diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers. BridgeBio’s pipeline of development programs ranges from early science to advanced clinical trials. BridgeBio was founded in 2015 and its team of experienced drug discoverers, developers and innovators are committed to applying advances in genetic medicine to help patients as quickly as possible. For more information visit bridgebio.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Bakar Labs
Bakar Labs is the flagship life science-focused incubator at UC Berkeley's Bakar BioEnginuity Hub. Operated by QB3, Bakar Labs provides extensive equipment, lab and office facilities, and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs to help startups grow. Bakar Labs can support as many as 50 early-stage companies from around the world focused on translating life science-based innovations that promise to improve human health. No UC affiliation is required to join. For information about how to join or form a partnership, visit bakarlabs.berkeley.edu.

BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Statements we make in this press release may include statements that are not historical facts and are considered forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), which are usually identified by the use of words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “seeks,” “should,” “will,” and variations of such words or similar expressions.  We intend these forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act and are making this statement for purposes of complying with those safe harbor provisions.  These forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expectations, plans, and prospects regarding our academic collaboration with Bakar Labs, Incubator at UC Berkeley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub , our ability to successfully review discoveries, provide support to entrepreneurs and consider possible partnership opportunities with startups focused on potential therapies for patients with genetic diseases and genetically driven cancers, our ability to play a role in identifying new discoveries in academia, including finding and accelerating research for patients as quickly and safely as possible, the success of current and future relationships with third-party collaborators and academic partners, and the potential ability of our product candidates to treat genetically driven diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers, reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, and are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made and are not forecasts, promises nor guarantees. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved.  Furthermore, actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to, the success of our product candidates to treat genetically driven diseases and cancers with clear genetic drivers, the success of our academic collaboration with UB Berkley’s Bakar BioEnginuity Hub, as well as those risks set forth in the Risk Factors section of BridgeBio’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and BridgeBio’s other U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment in which new risks emerge from time to time. Except as required by applicable law, we assume no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

BridgeBio Media Contact:
Grace Rauh
Grace.rauh@bridgebio.com
(917) 232-5478

BridgeBio Academic Research Contact:
academic.research@bridgebio.com