Some tumors are hot.
MOST TUMORS ARE COLD.
Approximately 65% of tumors are not infiltrated with cancer-attacking immune cells; they are cold tumors. Cold tumors are resistant to today’s immunotherapies.
Scientific
Approach
Our science is based on the premise that there is untapped biology and an opportunity to discover new mechanisms that can enable cancer immunotherapies to benefit more patients. Distinct from the vast majority of today’s cancer immunotherapies, Normunity’s approach engages immune system biology beyond the traditional view of the tumor microenvironment, finding new paths to free the immune system to work normally against cancer.
The immune system is typically very effective at recognizing altered or foreign cells and swiftly dispatching them. But in the case of a tumor, cancer cells deploy a myriad of mechanisms to disrupt the immune system and reduce its ability to recognize and eliminate the cancer. With our first platforms, we are addressing foundational questions to uncover the cancer-driven barriers to immune cell infiltration and normal anti-cancer immunity.
PIONEERING NEW I-O MECHANISMS
Interrogating the interactions between cancer and the immune system to remove cancer’s barriers to normal immunity.
To date, it has been difficult to robustly model and explore the
MANY POINTS OF DISRUPTION BETWEEN CANCER AND THE IMMUNE SYSTEM THAT CAUSE BARRIERS
to normal immune function.
Through an integrated and ongoing partnership between the Chen Lab and Normunity, we are using innovative platforms that interrogate the interactions between cancer and the immune system.
We are identifying and targeting
NOVEL MECHANISMS TO REMOVE CANCER’S BARRIERS TO NORMAL IMMUNITY.
Our therapies are immune normalizers that will be used as precision medicines for the treatment of cancer.
Our initial drug discovery is focused on the challenge of immune cell exclusion, targeting mechanisms of trafficking to, expansion of, and infiltration into the tumor, critical steps to turn a cold tumor hot.
OUR FIRST DRUG PROGRAMS ARE DESIGNED TO REMOVE BARRIERS THAT BLOCK NORMAL IMMUNE INFILTRATION.
A new cancer-fighting path:
FREEING NORMAL IMMUNITY
The majority of today’s cancer immunotherapies focus on limited mechanisms within the tumor microenvironment and are designed to stimulate and accelerate specific immune cell types or rely on modified immune cells to attack cancer. But cancer’s defenses are often too strong to be breached by today’s approaches that super-charge immune cells.
Instead, we are discovering novel cancer-driven mechanisms that attenuate immune function. Unlike other immunotherapies, immune normalizers do not alter the activity of cells of the immune system but simply remove restraints on their normal function. By eliminating cancer’s defenses, immune normalizers free immune cells to carry out their expected work of recognizing and eliminating cancer.
We are looking beyond the tumor microenvironment to discover and develop novel immunotherapies that target mechanisms that free normal immunity to fight cancer in powerful new ways.
