The startup develops cancer treatment medicines that directly target tumor shrinkage and remodel the tumor microenvironment to enhance immuno-oncology efficacy. By making tumors more responsive to anti-cancer therapies, the company aims to increase patient survival rates and improve treatment outcomes in areas resistant to current immuno-oncology approaches.
Funding
$59.3M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
Founders
Product
Problem
Many cancers rely heavily on glutamine metabolism for growth and survival, yet current therapies often fail to effectively target this metabolic dependency, leading to limited treatment responses and disease progression. Existing cancer treatments may not adequately remodel the tumor microenvironment or stimulate sufficient anti-tumor immune responses, resulting in incomplete disease control and reduced patient survival rates.
Solution
Dracen Pharmaceuticals is developing targeted anti-cancer therapeutics that inhibit glutamine metabolism to directly shrink tumors and remodel the tumor microenvironment, enhancing immuno-oncology efficacy. Their lead candidate, sirpiglenastat (DRP-104), is a broad-acting glutamine antagonist that irreversibly inhibits all known enzymes involved in glutamine metabolism. This approach delivers single-agent anti-tumor activity, remodels the tumor microenvironment to stimulate anti-tumor immune responses, and demonstrates synergistic efficacy with checkpoint inhibitors, even in models resistant to anti-PD-1 treatment. By targeting glutamine metabolism, Dracen aims to overcome tumor immune evasion and improve treatment outcomes in cancers with genetic mutations that make them susceptible to glutamine inhibition.
Target Audience
Dracen's therapies target patients with advanced solid tumors, particularly those with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and other cancers characterized by glutamine addiction or specific genetic mutations (e.g., KEAP1, NFE2L2, and/or STK11).
Features
- Irreversible inhibition of all known enzymes involved in glutamine metabolism using DRP-104 (sirpiglenastat)
- Single-agent anti-tumor activity across a wide spectrum of pre-clinical models
- Remodels the tumor microenvironment, stimulating anti-tumor immune responses
- Synergistic efficacy with checkpoint inhibitors, leading to substantial survival improvement in animal studies
- Demonstrated activity in both genetically modified and patient-derived xenograft mouse models
- Potential to overcome tumor immune evasion and improve treatment outcomes in cancers with specific genetic mutations (KEAP1, NFE2L2, STK11)
- Granted Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of advanced, previously treated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with specific mutations