Fortitude Biomedicines launched with seed financing to develop antibody‑drug conjugates that use targeted protein degraders as payloads (GLUE‑DAC). The Waltham, Mass., startup said the approach aims to overcome ADC resistance and expand ADC utility to autoimmune indications by combining antibody targeting with catalytic degrader mechanisms. Founders include Baylor researchers Jin Wang and Michael DeBakey and entrepreneur Jesse Chen; the company raised a $13 million seed round led by K2 Bio Partners and Shanghai Healthcare Angel Capital. Fortitude’s launch arrives amid a flurry of industry interest in molecular glue degraders and targeted protein degradation partnerships from Big Pharma.