VelosBio

VelosBio was a San Diego-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing first-in-class cancer therapies that targeted ROR1, a cell surface protein overexpressed in many hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Founded in 2017, the company's lead asset VLS-101 was an antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that demonstrated compelling early clinical data across multiple tumor types. VelosBio raised a $137 million Series B round in 2020 before being acquired by Merck for $2.75 billion later that year, validating the ROR1 targeting approach as a promising oncology strategy.