NARA HEALTH has invested in Angarus, with Stanford and Foothill Ventures. Based in San Francisco, Angarus Therapeutics is a Stanford spin-off that responds to the urgent need to develop innovative immuno-oncology therapies to fight cancer.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Although there are traditional treatments such as chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, these have shown very limited efficacy, especially for patients with late-stage disease.
Cancer cells evolve to suppress both innate and adaptive responses by overexpressing immune checkpoints. Checkpoint blockers that trigger adaptive immune responses are achieving long-term cancer-free survival in some patients with metastatic melanoma.
However, most other cancers suppress initial innate immune detection and therefore do not respond to adaptive checkpoint blockers.
Angarus scientists, led by Lingyin Li, are developing checkpoint blockers in the STING pathway of innate immunity. Preclinical data demonstrate that a combination of checkpoint blockers, both innate and adaptive, leads to long-term survival.
The company is continuously developing solutions that benefit patients with a wide range of cancers.