In January 2014, in Watertown, Massachusetts, a company quietly took shape around a simple biological truth. Platelets do more than clot. They signal. They heal. They orchestrate repair. Stellular Bio, originally founded as Platelet BioGenesis, licensed its core science from Harvard Medical School hematology research and decided to stay narrow, technical, and patient. No noise. Just biology that works when the body cannot.
The founding team mattered. Jonathan Thon, Ph.D., brought the lab rigor, coming out of years under Joseph Italiano, Ph.D., at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital. Joseph Italiano brought the platelet science itself, decades deep in megakaryocyte biology. Sven Karlsson brought the operational spine, building the machinery required to turn discovery into something manufacturable. Three founders, one thesis, and no shortcuts.
That discipline shows up again on January 28, 2026, when Stellular Bio announced a Series 1 financing with Ziff Capital Partners leading, joined by Cockrell Interests, Tanis Ventures, Sandia Holdings, and others. The amount stays undisclosed, which tells you something about leverage. Ziff Capital Partners is not new to this story. They backed the Series A-1 in 2019, the Series B in 2021, and now return again. Conviction is rarely loud. It is repetitive.
The boardroom reflects that same seriousness. Steven M. Altschuler, M.D., serves as Chairman of the Board, bringing a career that spans Spark Therapeutics through its $4.8 billion acquisition, multiple public company chairs, and decades of healthcare leadership. Philip R. Reilly, M.D., J.D., Ph.D., sits as both Chief Medical Officer and board member, a rare dual role earned through founding work across bluebird bio, Voyager Therapeutics, Fulcrum Therapeutics, and others. This is not advisory window dressing. This is governance with scars.
Operationally, the company is led by Derek Adams, Ph.D., who joined Stellular Bio in July 2021, moved through Chief Operating Officer and President, and became President and Chief Executive Officer in November 2022. His background at bluebird bio, Alexion, and Merck shows up in the product strategy. The platform is a platelet derived regenerative biologic, allogeneic, off the shelf, and manufactured under cGMP. The lead candidate, STLR-201, is being developed for Sjogren’s syndrome related dry eye, a condition affecting roughly four million people in the United States alone, with real risk of corneal damage and vision loss.
Dry eye sounds small until you see the market. The ophthalmic therapeutics space topped $35 billion globally in 2023 and keeps growing. The dry eye segment alone pushes past $3 billion and climbs steadily. Platelets already know how to talk to damaged tissue. Stellular Bio is teaching them how to show up on time, every time, at scale. That raises a question worth sitting with, especially if this Series 1 is any indication of what comes next.
