Tradewind Bioscience's Lead Program
We are aiming to treat ovarian cancer patients
For ovarian malignancy there is no equivalent of a mammogram that might result in early detection and consequently, many diagnoses are late stage, where cancer has already spread. We have set out on a mission to improve and extend the lives of women with late stage ovarian cancer. It is a deeply personal mission for us, as it would be for anyone who’s life and family have been affected by this aggressive cancer. The oncogene we are targeting plays a role from the earliest stages of cancer initiation through its progression and metastatic dissemination. To halt this protein’s function, Tradewind has developed a high-affinity, inhibitory antibody. We are translating our vision into a novel therapeutic approach for cancer.
A first-in-class therapeutic
Tradewind scientists have identified an oncogene that is a little different than the mutated kinases and amplified genes we normally think of as oncogenes. Our first drug target is a secreted protein, that comes to be highly expressed in cancer cells, whereas it is not expressed in adult tissues. It can initiate cancer in transgenic mouse models, enable ascites growth and dissemination to distant organs and is important to maintain tumor cell survival and proliferation in tumors that evolve high expression. Expression correlates with the aggressiveness of human cancer. Our inhibitory antibody binds to this secreted protein and acts like a sponge, holding it is an inactive conformation.
Pipeline Development
- Tradewind's antibody therapeutic for ovarian cancer is our most advanced program.
- Expansion of our therapeutic pipeline is focused on targets from novel unpublished science. We are focused on new targets and therapeutic approaches only.
- We have identified an epigenetic regulator, a series of potential targets that may have overlapping importance in fibrotic lung disease and cancer and we will create novel bi-specific therapeutic antibodies.
- We will begin to explore these programs more intently as we progress.