Why Angarus?
Angarus is a play on the Latin word for messenger. Our novel therapeutics modulate immune-activating second messenger molecules such as cGAMP within the tumor microenvironment.
At Angarus, our scientists have developed a new approach to targeting key immune regulatory mechanisms with a novel class of small molecules that ignite lasting and robust anti-tumor immunity. These proprietary therapeutics selectively modulate immune activity in the tumor microenvironment, allowing immunotherapy to succeed in patients with hard-to-treat tumors, such as pancreatic cancer, sarcoma, and glioblastoma, while also potentially benefitting patients with more common tumors such as breast and lung cancer where current treatment options fall short.
Our Purpose
While immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of cancer, many patients with solid tumors do not respond to checkpoint inhibition or acquire resistance after initial success. For those who don’t respond, treatment options can be limited. We believe that more patients should benefit from the promise of immunotherapy.
It began with a discovery.
No two people with cancer are exactly alike, and neither are their tumors.
Similarly, one approach to immunotherapy will not work for everyone.
Over the last decade, antibodies against immune checkpoints such as PD-1, PD-L1 and CTLA-4 that up-regulate the activity of the adaptive immune system have transformed cancer treatment. Despite these breakthroughs, many patients do not respond to checkpoint inhibition or develop resistance to treatment.
Recent research shows that targeting other immune modulating factors, such as cGAMP and adenosine, within the tumor microenvironment enables the immune system to mount a much stronger and longer lasting response to cancer.
Driven by her expertise as a biochemist and experience as a cancer survivor, Angarus Therapeutics founder, Lingyin Li, PhD, discovered that cGAMP, an immunotransmitter which is produced in response to cancer, acts as a warning signal to the innate immune system, creating an ideal target to selectively activate the anti-tumor immune response.
Tumors can upregulate expression of ENPP1, the sole enzyme that degrades cGAMP, as a way of avoiding this immuno-surveillance. This led to the novel idea of using a small molecule drug to inhibit ENPP1 and increase endogenous cGAMP levels in the tumor microenvironment. Since normal cells do not produce cGAMP, this would allow for precise tumor targeting – avoiding toxic effects on healthy cells.
Pictured: Lingyin Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine and Arc Institute
Scientific Co-Founder, Angarus Therapeutics
Angarus has developed potent and selective small molecule inhibitors of ENPP1 and other ectonucleotidases that modulate tumor immune activity, halting tumor growth and preventing metastases, both alone and in combination with checkpoint inhibitors, radiation, and other cancer treatments.
We are planning on developing these agents as treatments for cancers that are resistant to immunotherapy or which respond poorly to checkpoint inhibition.