Sextant enables Tumor-focused Immuno-Oncology
Tumor-focused IO = Cancer treatments that trigger dying cancer cells to provoke potent cancer-killing and tumor-suppressive immune responses.
Tumor-focused IO complements Immune-Targeted IO (such as checkpoint inhibitors), Tumor Microenvironment approaches and Vaccines, which all strive to promote cell-killing immunity and restrict suppressive immunity/ tolerance.
Sextant Therapeutics developed Tumor-focused IO based on preclinical cancer vaccine studies performed at the Koch Institute comprising 485 mice across 25+ experiments. Sextant identified cell death conditions where normal mouse cells, killed through the appropriate effectors, elicited potent Cytotoxic T cell immunity (CTLs) that could prevent tumor growth 90-100% of the time.
The potent immune-activating potential of dying cells was extensively characterized and validated in vivo. The molecular mechanisms controlling immune activation or suppression were identified through next-generation proteomic profiling, post-translational modification proteomics, and cell biological assays. We have developed Novel Targets, Diagnostics & Assays to convert cytotoxic cancer drugs into potent immune-activating therapies.
Tumor-focused IO presents novel opportunites in a rapidly progressing therapeutic area. We are looking for Development Partners who seek to expand the value of their existing oncology assets into novel first-in-class Immuno-Oncology therapies that synergize with existing IO strategies.