Sui Huang, MD, PhD, Pioneering Cancer Biology Researcher, Joins Thetis Pharmaceuticals Scientific Advisory Board
RIDGEFIELD, CT – (October 13, 2021) – Thetis Pharmaceuticals LLC (“Thetis”), a biopharmaceutical company developing Resolvin-based therapies to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases, announced today that Dr. Sui Huang has joined its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Huang is a molecular and cellular biologist with expertise in systems biology of cancer progression and inflammation.
Gary Mathias, Chief Executive Officer of Thetis, commented, “As a result of Dr. Huang’s seminal discoveries in gene regulatory networks and non-genetic dynamics of tumor progression, we have a deeper appreciation of protumor inflammation as a key driver of tumor progression, metastasis, and therapy-induced resistance. These insights underlie the focus of our lead cancer drug, TP-317, a unique resolvin-based therapy that activates the body’s natural inflammation resolution pathways to treat solid tumor cancers.”
Dr. Huang added, "Existing cancer therapies designed to kill tumor cells are inherently a double-edged sword. By triggering cell death, these therapies lead to an inflammatory response that paradoxically promotes tumor growth and consequently limits their efficacy. Mechanistically, Resolvins reprogram the tumor microenvironment to counteract the protumor effects that inevitably accompany cell killing caused by the cancer treatment itself, by clearing cell debris, downregulating inflammatory cytokines, and promoting anti-tumor immunity.”
Since 2011, Dr. Huang has been a professor at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), a Seattle-based biomedical research organization. The Huang Laboratory at ISB is focused on investigating the interface between normal cell development and tumor cell development, and the integral role played by chronic inflammation in triggering this transformation. Dr. Huang obtained his doctorates in medicine and molecular biology at the University of Zurich in 1995. After completing postdoctoral training in cancer biology, he joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School in Boston and subsequently moved to the University of Calgary to work alongside Stuart Kauffman on gene regulatory networks and cancer differentiation therapy. In 2019, Dr. Huang was announced as a member of a global research team funded with a $25 million grant from Cancer Research UK to find novel ways of treating cancers directed at inflammation as a root cause of tumor initiation and progression.
About TP-317
Overview: TP-317 is a patented small molecule drug that delivers Resolvin E1, an endogenous lipid mediator that engages BLT1 as a biased agonist to promote immune homeostasis . Unlike anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-cancer agents that are immuno-suppressive, TP-317 activates innate and adaptive immune pathways to treat disease without compromising host-protective immunity.
Cancer Program: TP-317 is being developed in cancer as an adjunct to standard of care therapy in advanced colorectal cancer and advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Its unique myeloid-directed antigen presentation mechanism of action addresses a fundamental need in immunotherapy. Preclinical studies with oral TP-317 in tumor models of these cancers have shown potent single-agent activity, and enhanced efficacy when combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors, chemotherapy and their combination.
IBD Program: TP-317 is being developed in IBD as first-line, oral therapy for moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease and as second-line, oral therapy for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis in patients who are not well controlled on existing therapies. The anticipated high safety premium and unique epithelial repair mechanism of TP-317 supports its use as adjunct therapy to standard-of-care biologics and oral immunomodulators.
About Thetis Pharmaceuticals
Thetis is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the lives of patients suffering from cancer and autoimmune diseases. Thetis’ proprietary HEALER™ technology platform enables the pharmaceutical development of Resolvins, a class of endogenous lipid mediators that regulate immune homeostasis by resolving inflammation and clearing cell debris. Thetis’ HEALER™ technology overcomes the stability, manufacturing, and formulation hurdles that have limited the development of Resolvins as pharmaceutical agents, unlocking their robust pharmacology to be developed as first-in-class small molecule drugs.
Disclaimer
TP-317 is an investigational drug product that has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
For more information, please visit Thetis Pharmaceuticals’ website (http://thetispharma.com) and follow Thetis on Twitter (@thetispharma).
Contact Information
Gary Mathias, CEO
gmathias@thetispharma.com