A new solid tumor biotech based on research out of Stanford University is targeting the red-hot fields of cancer immunotherapy and antibody-drug conjugates.
TwoStep Therapeutics unveiled itself on Tuesday morning, and its bold bets — changing the immunotherapy field and bringing a new flavor to pharma’s en vogue oncology modality — are advised by several high-profile entrepreneurs and researchers. They include Nobel laureate Carolyn Bertozzi and Jennifer Cochran, Stanford’s senior associate vice provost for research. Another TwoStep co-founder is Stanford professor Ronald Levy, who helped develop the lymphoma treatment rituximab.
With a $6.5 million seed round to begin, the Palo Alto upstart will work on choosing its lead program and raising a Series A next year to fund IND-enabling and Phase 1b studies, CEO Caitlyn Miller said in an exclusive interview with Endpoints News.
Miller worked with Bertozzi and Cochran during her PhD and post-doc work at Stanford to create a platform of peptide conjugates that can bind to five different tumor-associated integrins, a broad applicability that can potentially give the company a leg up on bispecifics and other treatments, according to Miller. The so-called polyspecific integrin-binding peptide, or PIP, binds to the active state that is present in tumor tissues while sparing healthy tissue, she added.
TwoStep is building off work from Cochran’s lab that found a stable peptide that could “light up basically any solid tumor that we tried to image or treat, and it had a really remarkable biodistribution profile,” she said. It was a rewarding discovery that tugged at Miller’s heart: Her stepfather had been diagnosed with oral cancer when she was about 10 years old. Over the following 14 years, he went through various surgeries, chemotherapies and radiation, but passed away while Miller was in grad school.
“It was seeing that progression of disease and side effects that really drove me into the world of tumor-targeted therapy because of their potential to improve delivery of therapies to the actual tumor site and spare the healthy tissue,” she said. “I thought that was the coolest idea ever and I really wanted to make an impact in that space.”
Now, TwoStep aims to figure out ways to apply its platform in immunotherapies and ADCs, a field in which Bertozzi has plenty of experience, including launching another biotech called Firefly Bio earlier this year. Cochran, meanwhile, has co-founded multiple biotechs and is a co-founder of life sciences investor Red Tree Venture Capital.
“With its ability to carry diverse payloads and versatility to any kind of solid tumor, TwoStep’s tumor-targeting technology has the makings of a powerful and attractive tool for a wide array of tumors that have been historically difficult to treat,” Bertozzi said in a statement.
At the moment, TwoStep doesn’t plan to go into well-established categories for ADCs like bladder cancer and breast cancer. Rather, it will look to improve the treatment paradigm in chemotherapy-dominated spaces like head and neck and colon cancer, Miller said.
Joining Miller in the C-suite is business chief Michael Ostrach, a former executive at Dynavax. Robert Coffman, another Dynavax veteran, is a scientific advisor to TwoStep.
TwoStep’s investors include NFX, 2048 Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, GC&H Investments and the family office of the Arcadia Investment Partners founder.
Editor’s note: This article was updated to correct who founded the peptide and the title of Robert Coffman. It was also updated to clarify that its peptide conjugates, rather than peptides, can bind to five different tumor-associated integrins.