Transforming Care. Empowering Lives.
At Belenos Biosciences Inc., we believe that clinical remission should be the standard—not the exception—for treating chronic inflammatory diseases like chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP), asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and atopic dermatitis (AD). Our bispecific therapeutics are designed to target proven disease pathways, with the goal of delivering meaningful, lasting outcomes for patients. With a focus on innovation and speed, we are advancing our pipeline with urgency to bring next-generation treatments to those who need them most.
The Belenos Team
Proven Expertise. Relentless Drive.
Belenos Biosciences was founded by a veteran team with deep expertise in chronic inflammatory diseases and a track record of success across every stage of drug development—from discovery to commercial launch. Agile and execution-focused, our leadership thrives on solving complex challenges with speed and precision.
What unites us is a single mission: to push beyond today’s efficacy limits and deliver best-in-class therapies to patients—faster.
Donnie McGrath, M.D., M.P.H.
CEO & Co-Founder
Donnie McGrath is a Venture Partner at OrbiMed Advisers LLC. Prior to founding Belenos Biosciences, he was Founder and Executive Chairman of BioShin (Shanghai), and Chief of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, until their acquisition by Pfizer in 2022. Previously, he was Vice President, Business Development and Head of Search of Evaluation for Bristol-Myers Squibb. Donnie began his career treating patients as an infectious disease physician in the Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Disease at Tufts New England Medical Center. Donnie earned his medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Megan Dow, Ph.D.
COO & Co-Founder
Tania Dimitrova, M.B.A
CFO & Co-Founder
Tania Dimitrova has 20 years of experience in bio-pharma business and corporate development, capital markets and investing. Prior to co-founding Belenos, she was Chief Business Officer at Artios, where she led strategic transactions, including business collaborations with Merck KGaA and Novartis, positioning the company for a successful Series C financing. Earlier, Tania held various roles in Worldwide Business Development at Pfizer and Corporate M&A at Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she executed over 25 transactions with immediate value of over $20 billion and received two Transactionalist Excellence Awards. Tania spent the first half of her career in healthcare investment banking as an equity research associate and a senior healthcare buy-side analyst in asset management. She earned her MBA in Healthcare Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Mount Holyoke College.
George Georges
CMO
Nick Vrolijk, Ph.D.
SVP, Head of Manufacturing
Anna Rightmire
VP, Head of Clinical Operations
Anna Rightmire has nearly 30 years of experience in clinical operations in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Anna was a key member of the infectious disease clinical operations team at Bristol-Myers Squibb before moving to ViiV as Director of Clinical Operations leading HIV drug development operations. Prior to joining Belenos, Anna was a Senior Director of Clinical Operations at Biohaven.
Cindy Cao, Ph.D.
SVP, Head of Regulatory Affairs
Dr. Yang (Cindy) Cao has 25 years of R&D experience across pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi. She has 18 years of extensive experience in global and U.S. regulatory strategy and filings for biologics, small molecules, cell therapies, and combination products. She has provided regulatory guidance to development teams across immunology, oncology, metabolic disorders, and cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Cao has also served as Chief Regulatory Officer at Humacyte Inc., where she championed the BLA submission and U.S. approval of the first-in-class bioengineered tissue. Dr. Cao holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences and completed an NIH-sponsored postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Utah before joining the industry.
Our Pipeline
Dual-Targeted Innovation. Long-Acting Impact.
TSLP × IL-13
Bispecific Antibody
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Our lead candidate, BEL512, targets TSLP and IL-13, two central cytokines that act on distinct but complementary components of type 2 inflammation. TSLP is an upstream epithelial alarmin that initiates and amplifies immune cascade activation, while IL-13 is a key downstream effector driving tissue inflammation, barrier dysfunction, and remodeling. Preclinical and emerging clinical evidence support that simultaneous modulation of upstream epithelial signaling and downstream effector pathways may lead to faster and more robust control of chronic type 2 inflammatory responses than inhibition of either pathway alone.
BEL512 entered clinical development in 2024 and is being advanced across multiple respiratory and dermatology indications, including CRSwNP, asthma, COPD, and atopic dermatitis.
A Phase 2 study of BEL512 in CRSwNP met all primary and secondary endpoints, including nasal polyp score, total symptom score, nasal congestion score, and loss of smell, among others. Separating BEL512 from other approaches, patients experienced improvements as early as four weeks after their BEl512 dose, and disease control was long-lasting, persisting through the study endpoint of 24 weeks. This opens up the possibility of only 2 doses per year for patients with CRSwNP.
In a separate Phase 1b study in atopic dermatitis, 58% of patients receiving 300 mg achieved EASI-75 and 42% achieved EASI-90 at Week 12, compared with 21% and 0% with placebo, respectively. Clinical improvements and biomarker reductions were sustained through Week 24, 20 weeks after the final dose, and BEL512 was well tolerated.
Belenos is currently conducting a Phase 1b in Asthma and COPD. The company plans to initiate a Phase 3 respiratory program in 2027, with CRSwNP starting in the 1H2027 and Asthma in the 2H2027.
Chronic Rhinosinusitis (CRS) affects between 10.9%-13.4% of the Western population, and the more severe subtype of CRSwNP accounts for approximately 18-20% of all CRS cases (Laidlaw TM et al J Allergy Clin Immunology Pract, 2021). CRSwNP is a chronic inflammatory disease of the nasal passages and sinuses characterized by the growth of nasal polyps. The condition is marked by nasal obstruction, congestion, facial pressure, impaired or lost sense of smell, sleep disturbance, and often comorbid asthma. Many patients remain symptomatic despite intranasal corticosteroids, systemic corticosteroids, biologic therapy or endoscopic sinus surgery.
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disease affecting more than 260 million people worldwide and approximately 6- 8% of the US population. Despite the availability of inhaled therapies and multiple biologics, asthma remains a major cause of emergency care, hospitalization, impaired quality of life, and preventable mortality. Asthma control remains an important unmet need, and advanced therapies that can provide more complete and sustained control of the multiple inflammatory pathways that contribute to asthma are needed across the broad asthma population.
OX40L × IL-13
Bispecific Antibody
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Our second candidate, BEL536 is designed to integrate immune circuit modulation with downstream cytokine effector blockade in a single long-acting bispecific antibody. By attenuating OX40L-driven T-cell costimulation, thereby impacting Th1, Th2, and Th17 pathways, while concurrently suppressing IL-13–driven tissue pathology, BEL536 is intended to address both immune activation and tissue-level disease mechanisms. BEL536 entered the clinic in 2026 and is being developed for chronic inflammatory diseases characterized by sustained T-cell activation.
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