New research published in the journal Cells Trends in Cancer
With the change of disease spectrum and the trend of aging, the impact of cancer on human health is becoming more and more significant. According to the IMS Global Cancer Trends Report, the global cancer drug market will reach $ 150 billion in 2020, and China is expected to reach $ 100 billion. Strong social needs have stimulated the innovation of cancer drug development. A large number of global pharmaceutical giants and start-up pharmaceutical companies have joined this competition. Development …
Radix Therapeutics, a recent contact, is a startup that develops new anti-cancer drugs. Unlike traditional drug companies that focus on developing drugs that directly kill tumor cells, Radix Therapeutics develops small-molecule drugs that target cancer stromal cells.
The company believes that “the development of new drugs for overturning the tumor microenvironment will cause tumors to lose their environment for development and metastasis, and be immune or cleared by therapeutic drugs. A fourth-generation cancer treatment strategy after immunotherapy. “
Radix Therapeutics focuses on highly malignant solid tumors of the human body, including brain tumors, pancreatic cancers, and ovarian tumors. Currently, there are two main types of therapeutic targets developed for tumors: tumor blood vessels and immunosuppressive cells.
In terms of core team, the company was co-founded by Professor Yi Fan of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Affiliated Hospital are the first medical schools and hospitals in the United States, respectively. CEO Katy Wang graduated from the University of Chicago and has successfully founded and operated a number of technology companies.
Professor Yi Fan, the company ’s co-founder, was the first to propose a “vascular deconversion therapy” strategy. He recently Published this new anti-cancer protocol in the journal Cells, Trends in Cancer . Yi Fan pointed out that vascular deconversion can reshape the tumor microenvironment, cause selective immune activation inside the tumor, and make drug-resistant tumors sensitive to traditional treatment methods.
Anti-vascular therapy was originally proposed by Professor Judah Folkman of Harvard University in the 1970s. The core idea is to close the blood vessels to block the blood supply of the tumor, thereby killing the tumor. Supported by this theory, Genentech developed Bevacizumab (BevacizUmab) drugs are currently widely used in clinical treatment, and Professor Folkman was therefore nominated for the Nobel Prize several times before his death. However, the anti-cancer effect of bevacizumab alone is not very satisfactory, which urges the medical academia and industry to urgently need to develop a new generation of treatment options.
In the past few years, a research team led by Professor Yi Fan has clarified that gene transformation is a new cause of tumor vascular abnormalities and has identified several new drug treatment targets. These research results have been published in leading academic journals. Includes Nature Communication and Journal of Clinical Investigation .
His latest further research found that Wnt protein is a new drug target, this The study was published last month in the scientific journal Science Translational Medicine .
Based on these research results, Professor Yi Fan has received the Judah Folkman Award from the American Association for Cancer Research and the Springer Award from the North American Vascular Biology Organization in recent years.
It is learned that Professor Yi Fan’s team has developed a gene screening platform based on cells derived from patient tumor samples and has completed several rounds of high-throughput drug screening. Through these preliminary developments, the research team discovered that several small-molecule drugs could be used for this innovative treatment. Professor Yi Fan has already applied for a patent for a drug, and more patents are pending. As a research and development line of the company, Radix Therapeutics is further developing these drugs and looks forward to conducting human anti-cancer experiments in the near future.