Kurome Therapeutics Targets Dysregulated Immune Signaling in Blood Cancer Patients

Cancer cells are often deceptive in that they’ll continue to adapt and invade the body, making traditional treatments less successful.

These specific types of cells work their way through the body, eventually adapting to chemotherapy and other traditional therapies by developing various resistance mechanisms.  In leukemia, the immune system becomes dysregulated, and signaling pathways used in normal healthy immune cells are co-opted by the cancer cells to help the cancer cells survive these therapies, a process referred to as adaptive resistance. Intercepting these signaling pathways in the cancer cells thwarts these cancer survival signals and resets the leukemic cells back on the path to becoming normal blood cells.

In a recent article by The New York Times, “Is a Revolution in Cancer Treatment Within Reach?,” journalist Kate Pickert writes, “Every time a new cancer treatment approach emerges, oncologists and overexcited journalists have a habit of declaring that a cure for cancer is imminent. What’s happening now is different. Rather than a single breakthrough therapy or discovery, a variety of scientific advances are exerting downward pressure on cancer mortality in new ways and at the same time. As a result, the landscape for many cancer patients has changed tremendously in just the past five years.”

While we’re hearing more about new classes of cancer drugs, Kurome Therapeutics, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, takes a novel approach to target small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

WHAT IS KUROME THERAPEUTICS AND HOW ARE THEY CHANGING THE MARKET?

With the mission of thwarting the effects of dysregulated immune cell signaling in cancer, Kurome Therapeutics is a preclinical stage company developing a series of IRAK1/4, panFLT3 inhibitors.

This innovative collaboration between Kurome, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at NIH has a united goal of treating and eventually curing certain forms of leukemia, through specific curated compounds.

Since Kurome’s inception, more than 1,600 compounds have been synthesized, with key compounds selected that show significant improvements in key features for treatment of hematological cancers.

The future of Kurome Therapeutics may provide a life-changing opportunity for cancer patients not only through its potential to become a market leader for AML, but also with the possibility of its technology serving as a multi-cancer therapy platform, applicable to a wide-range of hematopoietic and solid tumors as well as branching out into inflammatory disorders.

“We knew when we saw this technology and the key achievements and milestones reached that this was an investment we felt confident in making. Our collaboration with Kurome’s founding team has accelerated the potential for bringing this to market,” says John Rice, partner at CincyTech and board chair at Kurome.

CINCYTECH & KUROME THERAPEUTICS

CincyTech led the seed financing for Kurome in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Queen City Angels, to help bridge the gap between scientific discovery, concept, and bringing ideas forward to the clinic.

Kurome’s Series A financing was co-led by Medicxi and Affinity Asset Advisors.

Jan Rosenbaum, PhD, President and CEO of Kurome Therapeutics notes, “This partnership with CincyTech has provided me with the tools and behind-the-scenes training that I needed to step into the role of CEO. I’m a scientist by training. I think like a scientist, I act like a scientist and this is my first-shot at being a CEO. I needed to know how to make that transition; CincyTech has helped guide me through every step.”

Kurome continues to take a complex problem, dysregulated immune cell signaling in cancer and drug resistance, and finds solutions that show promising results for patients.

Learn more about Kurome at kurometherapeutics.com.

See our disclosures at cincytechusa.com/disclosures.