Acerta Pharma Alumni Reunion · Late 2026
From a small lab in Oss to life-changing treatments for patients around the world.
A decade of work that changed what was possible.
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The founders behind the name
In California, Ahmed Hamdy and Raquel Izumi had just been pushed out of Pharmacyclics — the company whose BTK inhibitor they helped build into what would become ibrutinib. Rather than step back, they co-founded Aspire Therapeutics with Francisco “Cisco” Salva, determined to do it again with a better molecule. In Oss, Netherlands, chemist Tjeerd Barf and biologist Allard Kaptein were sitting on exactly that — a more selective BTK inhibitor they’d developed and licensed after their own research program was shut down. Edward van Wezel connected the two teams. In early 2013, Aspire Therapeutics and Covalution BioSciences merged to form Acerta Pharma. California clinical expertise. Dutch chemistry. One shared mission.
From founding to first-in-human trials in under twelve months — a pace almost unheard of in drug development. Trial NCT02029443 opened, targeting B-cell malignancies with the molecule that would become acalabrutinib. For patients living with these cancers, speed was never abstract. The signal was there from the start: cleaner selectivity, fewer off-target effects, a drug that patients might actually be able to stay on long-term.
Acerta Pharma · San Carlos, California
The Phase II data presented at the end of 2015 triggered intense interest across the entire pharma industry. AstraZeneca moved first — acquiring a 55% stake for $4 billion total ($2.5 billion paid at closing, plus an unconditional $1.5 billion tied to first US regulatory approval), with an option on the remaining 45% for approximately $3 billion. Total deal value: over $7 billion. The Pivot Park startup had become a global hematology platform. Fast.
Accelerated FDA approval for acalabrutinib — branded Calquence® — in Mantle Cell Lymphoma. A next-generation BTK inhibitor, more selective than its predecessor, offering blood cancer patients a chemotherapy-free path with a tolerability profile that didn’t demand they choose between fighting the disease and living their life. The molecule born in Oss was now in the hands of patients across the United States.
August 2019: FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for CLL, the most prevalent adult leukemia. November 2019: full FDA approval for CLL/SLL. In 2020, the European Commission followed — based on Phase III data showing Calquence reduced risk of disease progression or death by up to 90% versus standard chemotherapy. For patients in the US, Europe, Japan, and beyond, the treatment landscape had fundamentally shifted. This team did that.
In 2021, AstraZeneca completed full ownership of Acerta — every milestone payment earned by exactly the approvals the founders had aimed for. By 2022, Calquence surpassed $2 billion in annual revenue. That number represents patients on therapy in every major market, physicians who now have a better option to reach for, and families who got more time. You built that.
The Full Arc
Alumni Reunion
Late 2026 · The story continues
Let’s celebrate that together.
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