Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. has obtained a short-list of recommended drug candidates from an initial artificial intelligence (AI) screening effort using the Deep Docking AI platform under a collaboration with the University of British Columbia.
Rakovina Therapeutics Inc. and Variational AI Inc. have entered into a research collaboration to identify and develop novel small-molecule therapies against DNA damage response (DDR) targets for the treatment of cancer.
Cumulus Oncology Ltd. is in the thick of raising a $50 million series A round as its model of sourcing novel drug targets emerging from academia, shaping them up for clinical development, and spinning them into startups, gathers pace. At the same time, Nodus Oncology Ltd., the first spinout created around an acquired asset, has just reached in vivo proof of concept with its lead DNA damage response inhibitor, and it, too, is looking to raise a series A to take the program through to the end of phase I.
Cumulus Oncology Ltd. is in the thick of raising a $50 million series A round as its model of sourcing novel drug targets emerging from academia, shaping them up for clinical development, and spinning them into startups, gathers pace. At the same time, Nodus Oncology Ltd., the first spinout created around an acquired asset, has just reached in vivo proof of concept with its lead DNA damage response inhibitor, and it, too, is looking to raise a series A to take the program through to the end of phase I.
A newly described small molecule inhibitor called AOH-1996 targets a cancer-associated isoform of PCNA (caPCNA), leading to a very broad therapeutic window. Researchers at City of Hope, a cancer research and treatment organization in California, reported on AOH-1996 in the Aug. 1, 2023, online edition of Cell Chemical Biology. Genes involved in replication and repair pathways are essential for the growth and survival of cancer cells. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is a key player in DNA replication via a homotrimer formation that acts as a molecular sliding clamp around the DNA double helix.
Lantern Pharma Inc. has received IND clearance from the FDA for LP-184, which is being developed for advanced solid tumors and central nervous system (CNS) cancers.
Nodus Oncology Ltd. closed on the first £2.4 million (US$2.9 million) of £12 million it expects to raise in a number of tranches over the next 12 months, to source and take forward third-generation DNA damage response (DDR) programs.
Onxeo SA has expanded its pipeline of drug candidates with OX-425, an optimized new compound of the OX-400 series sourced from its proprietary Platon platform.
Startup Avelos Therapeutics Inc. raised $8 million in series A funding that will launch the company’s biomarker-driven cancer therapy pipeline using its synthetic lethality platform. Participating in the series A funding were SV Investment, UTC Investment, Quad Investment Management, Timepolio Asset Management, Mirae Asset Venture Investment and Mirae Asset Capital.
Nodus Oncology Ltd. is set to explore new avenues of DNA damage response by targeting the chromosome next-door neighbors of tumor suppressor genes that are damaged when tumor suppressor genes are inactivated via homozygous deletion. These collaterally deleted ‘passenger genes’ play diverse functions in cell homeostasis and so present a number of molecularly targeted vulnerabilities that can provide a route to destroying cells which carry a tumor suppressor gene.
