HARTFORD – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) announced on Friday that Arvinas of New Haven is this month’s “Murphy’s Innovator of the Month.” Founded in July 2013, Arvinas is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing first-of-their-kind protein therapies to treat cancers and other diseases. The innovative company uses Yale-patented PROTAC (Proteolysis-Targeting Chimeras) technology from Dr. Craig Crews to degrade disease-causing proteins. Arvinas is in the process of developing new PROTACs to improve treatment of prostate cancer and metastatic breast cancer, and have been successful in degrading over 90% of the proteins they’ve tested.

Arvinas employs 47 Connecticut workers out of a 10,000 square-foot facility at Science Park in New Haven. They were proud to receive support from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and from Connecticut Innovations. Over the last few years, Arvinas has formed partnerships with Merck and Genetech to advance their research into diseases other than cancer. The partnerships are worth up to $750 million. 

“Arvinas is on the cusp of developing new cancer therapies that can save lives, and it’s all happening in New Haven,” said Murphy. “They’re an integral part of the Yale community, and I’m grateful for their commitment to growing Connecticut’s biotech industry.” 

Dr. John Houston, President & CEO of Arvinas, said, "Connecticut and New Haven have offered Arvinas opportunities to thrive. With this support, we've acquired top talent and attracted prominent venture firms who have invested more than $57M. Additionally, we've secured two marquee partnerships with Merck and Genentech that could provide up to $750M of additional capital. We are excited and proud of our accomplishments in the biosciences and looking forward to applying our unique and powerful platform to more targets of interest in the coming years as well as bringing two products to the clinic in 2018."

Murphy believes entrepreneurship and innovation are building blocks for a strong economy. In the U.S. Senate, he has introduced two bipartisan pieces of legislation to incentivize angel investors to put more money into startup companies – the Angel Tax Credit Act and the Helping Angels Lead Our Startups (HALOS) Act. Last month, Murphy’s HALOS Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Startup companies create an average of 2 million jobs each year. 

Murphy is also focused on securing federal National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for Connecticut research institutions. Murphy recently helped secure over $4.8 billion for NIH over 10 years for new investments in cancer treatment and medical research, and celebrated a $2 billion increase in NIH federal investments for research institutions, such as those in Connecticut, that are working to develop new medical therapies, diagnostics, and preventative measures. Murphy also called on NIH to commit more resources to Connecticut’s leading research institutions, like Yale University. In 2015, Connecticut institutions received over $457.3 million in federal NIH grant funding for 1,100 projects.

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