Ep123: Tariq Kassum on Single-Cell Analysis for Drug Discovery

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Tariq Kassam traces his path from medicine and Wall Street to biotech entrepreneurship, explaining how Celsius Therapeutics uses single-cell genomics on human tissue to uncover disease biology and identify drug targets. The company’s lead program is an anti-TREM1 antibody for inflammatory bowel disease, with a colorectal cancer collaboration with Servier, all built on a “precision medicine” approach beyond simple genetics.

Main Topics: Kassam’s personal and professional journey: He describes growing up in Toronto in an immigrant Ismaili Muslim family, moving from medical training into business because he was drawn to the intersection of science, communication, and management. Wall Street as biotech apprenticeship: Investment banking and hedge fund roles exposed him to a broad range of biotech companies, technologies, deal-making, and management styles, shaping his understanding of what makes companies succeed or fail. Transition from finance to biotech operations: At Millennium/Takeda he moved from finance into broader business development, learning how larger biopharma companies evaluate assets and how to execute transactions that can advance medicines. Startup formation and early company building: At Obsidian Therapeutics he experienced building a biotech from scratch, including operational basics, experimental planning, and the challenge—and opportunity—of creating novel cell-therapy control elements. Celsius Therapeutics’ single-cell platform: Celsius is using single-cell RNA sequencing and proprietary algorithms on carefully curated human samples to identify disease-relevant cell states and new therapeutic targets in inflammatory disease and oncology. Lead program and partnership strategy: The company’s lead asset is Cell 383, an anti-TREM1 antibody for IBD, and it also has a partnership with Servier to identify new colorectal cancer targets, with the platform remaining modality-agnostic. Future of precision medicine: Kassam argues the field is still early, but single-cell biology could produce its own PCSK9-like success stories by connecting cellular heterogeneity to actionable targets and therapies.

Key Arguments: Kassam’s career choices were driven by finding intersections—science and humanities, medicine and business, finance and biotechnology—where he could apply both analytical and communication skills. Wall Street was not just a detour; it was an education in drug development, company strategy, capital formation, and the difference between successful and failing biotech management teams. Biotech startups demand persistence and first-principles thinking; unlike pharma, early companies often must solve existential problems rather than move on when projects stall. Celsius’ platform starts with human tissue rather than mouse models because human samples are more directly relevant to disease biology and can reveal cell states hidden by bulk analysis. Single-cell RNA sequencing solves a key limitation of bulk genomics by de-averaging mixed tissue samples and exposing distinct cell populations and their functions. The company’s sample library and curation process are a major moat: over a dozen academic collaborations, homogeneous patient cohorts, and integrated clinical metadata make the data more actionable. The lead IBD program emerged from a clearly correlated inflammatory myeloid population associated with anti-TNF resistance, with TREM1 believed to sustain that pro-inflammatory state. The platform is modality-agnostic, but antibodies are the initial internal choice because they can provide clean proof of concept. The broader industry is adopting single-cell tools, but access to high-quality human clinical samples and the operational ability to process them at scale are still differentiators. Single-cell genomics is still in its infancy; a PCSK9-like breakthrough may eventually validate the approach and accelerate broader adoption.

Data Points: Celsius Series A financing: $65 million - Company launch financing led by Third Rock Ventures in May 2018 Company age at time of interview: 4 years after debut - Celsius had been operating for four years and was preparing its first clinical program Lead program clinical timing: 2023 - The anti-TREM1 program was being prepped for clinical trials in 2023 Samples in Celsius library: Just over 1,500 - Human IBD and solid-tumor samples assembled through academic collaborations Collaborations with academic institutions: Over a dozen - Global sample-access partnerships supporting the discovery platform Clinical throughput target: Hundreds of samples a month - Industrialized single-cell genomics workflow being built in-house Cell data scale: Millions and millions of cells - 1,500-plus samples translated into very large single-cell datasets Visible disease gap: About 70% of tumors - Kassam cited the fraction of tumors without a druggable driver mutation Takeda/Millennium tenure: About 6.5 years - Time spent in finance and business development roles before moving to startup biotech Historic financing year: 2001–2002 - Dot-com crash era when he began at a startup and then moved to CIBC in Menlo Park Major biotechnology sponsor context: $428 million - Calgary life sciences digital transformation spending projected by 2024 in the sponsor read Calgary life sciences ecosystem: More than 120 companies - Sponsor mention describing Calgary as a life sciences hub

Pivotal Quotes: "“The future is going to be to start with the humans.”" — Tariq Kassam: Explaining why Celsius focuses on human tissue rather than mouse models for target discovery "“We have no idea how to unpack what those different diseases are.”" — Physician described by Kassam: A bedside observation that helped motivate Celsius’ approach to inflammatory bowel disease heterogeneity "“The key to success at Millennium is stick your hand up when somebody says, ‘Hey, I need to do something, but I need someone to help me do it.’”" — Tariq Kassam quoting a mentor: Describing the culture that helped him learn and grow in industry

Implications: The interview highlights a shift toward human-sample, single-cell-driven drug discovery. If Celsius succeeds, it could validate a new path to precision medicine in diseases lacking clear genetic drivers and make single-cell platforms more central to biotech R&D.