Volastra Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapies that target chromosomal instability (CIN) in metastatic cancers through synthetic lethality and immune activation strategies. By leveraging proprietary CINtech methodologies, the company identifies unique vulnerabilities in cancer cells, enabling the design of targeted treatments for patients with difficult-to-treat malignancies.
Funding
$119M 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
Metastatic cancers are characterized by chromosomal instability (CIN), which allows them to adapt, evade the body’s defenses, and resist medical therapies. This genomic chaos, driven by an increased rate of chromosome segregation errors during mitosis, enhances heterogeneity and poses a significant challenge in treating these malignancies.
Solution
Volastra Therapeutics is developing oncology therapeutics that target CIN in metastatic cancers through synthetic lethality and immune activation strategies. The company's CINtech research strategy combines proprietary technology, screening techniques, and computational modeling to measure and characterize chromosome instability. This approach enables the identification of CIN-specific targets and biomarkers, facilitating the design of targeted treatments for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers. Volastra is also applying CINtech to leverage large oncology data sets, making novel discoveries around cancer cell vulnerabilities.
Target Audience
The primary target audience includes patients with difficult-to-treat metastatic cancers, as well as the medical professionals who treat them.
Features
- CINtech research strategy combining proprietary technology, screening techniques, and computational modeling
- Identification of CIN-specific targets matched with new biomarkers
- Synthetic lethality approach to directly kill cancer cells by targeting vulnerabilities required for survival by chromosomally unstable cells but not by normal cells
- Immune activation approach to indirectly kill cancer cells by re-awakening the immune sensing of chromosomal instability
- KIF18A inhibitor (VLS-1488) in clinical development
- Sovilnesib in Phase Ib clinical trial for platinum-resistant or refractory high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC)