By targeting signaling pathways, which cancer requires for growth and survival, we aspire to kill cancerous cells more effectively than currently marketed therapies, while leaving healthy cells intact.
The number of melanoma cases has been rising steadily for at least 30 years. Therapies on the market today only provide a marginal increase in the survival rate, while causing serious side effects.
At Cellona, we know we can do better for those suffering from this debilitating and fatal disease.
Our mission is to develop targeted therapeutics to improve survival rates in cancer patients, and with the development of Tris-DBA, we’re off to a great start. Tris-DBA is a lead compound that can limit the activation of major signaling pathways that are crucial to cancerous growth. By blocking the pathways, we can limit cancer growth.
The result is a more effective melanoma treatment that:
In short, it does what a cancer drug is supposed to do, better than anything else.That’s big news.
Since medical researchers have learned a bit more about the role of these signaling pathways in cancer growth, quite a few therapies have popped up utilizing this new information.
But these therapies have major drawbacks. They’re simply not all that effective.
There are two types of these new therapies:
Our treatment is a lead compound that works similarly to BRAF inhibitors, but that blocks additional pathways, effectively cutting the cancerous cells off at the source.
We’re tremendously excited at the possibilities, but there’s much more testing to be done. We’re just getting started. We have established Tris-DBA as a lead compound, however additional testing is needed to progress the compund to an optimized formulation. Then we can complete our pre-clinical studies.
At that point we’ll meet with the FDA to start testing in cancer patients.
Brad E. Fackler, MBA, CEO
In his distinguished 32-year career, Mr. Fackler has held senior corporate and commercial executive roles in international and US companies, most recently as Executive VP of Commercial Operations for Sucampo Pharmaceuticals.
Mike McKenna, PhD, Chief Development Officer
Dr. Mckenna is a toxicologist with over 35 years of experience in the life sciences industry. Formerly the CEO and Chairman at Merrion Pharmaceuticals, he also served as Vice President at Pappas Ventures. He currently serves as the Chief Development Officer for Cellona’s research programs.
Gary A. Smith, Chief Legal Officer
A founder and managing partner of Enterprise Law Associates, Mr. Smith previously served as VP and General Counsel at Tengion, and as VP and General Counsel of Enzon Pharmaceuticals.
Beth Lowenthal, PharmD, MBA, Vice President of Research
Dr. Lowenthal has extensive work experience in Medical Affairs and cross-functional R&D roles, and she’s built and directed Medical Science Liaison teams for marketed and in-line oncology and immunology products.