A cluster of breast cancer cells undergoing apoptosis, or cell death.
Vanquish Oncology is developing a small molecule drug that could trigger selective cell death among cancer cells – while generally leaving the healthy cells alone. Notably, it contends that the drug is highly able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier – making it a candidate to treat cancers of the central nervous system.
The Illinois-based cancer therapeutics startup is in the mist of a $7.3 million fundraise, according to a regulatory filing. Thus far, it’s raised about $1 million.
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Last year, the company kicked off Phase 1 trials for PAC-1. The drug works by activating a protein called procaspase-3 that triggers cell death. Vanquish’s small molecule therefore is aimed at kicking off the process of apoptosis in cancer cells, ultimately killing them. The reason it’s focusing on procaspase-3 in particular is that this protein’s levels are far elevated in cancer cells when compared to normal cells, the company says.
The Phase 1 dose escalation trial trial, which is still recruiting patients, is being evaluated in a number of cancers: Breast, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, gynecologic, head and neck, thoracic, as well as lymphomas, melanomas and solid tumors.
