Aglaia Therapeutics to Use New Funding for Oncology Targeted Therapies

Aglaia Therapeutics Raises $4.7 M to develop oncology therapies for cancer patients who have become resistant to current targeted therapies.

FREMONT, CA: The primary goal of cancer treatment is to cure the disease, but also focusing on life extension and pain alleviation in cases when cure is not possible owing to advanced disease. Aglaia Therapeutics has raised $4.7 million in seed funding to create the preclinical development program required to identify the first candidate for clinical trials. The funding round was led by Advent France Biotechnology (AFB), with participation from Crdit Mutuel Innovation and Pierre Fabre. Alejo Chorny, a current AFB operating partner who has been named chief operating officer (COO) of Aglaia Tx, was also a co-founder. The company was founded in collaboration with the Institut Curie and Gustave Roussy, two leading European cancer institutes.

Aglaia Tx's mission is to develop promising novel oncology medicines with the goal of producing best-in-class and first-in-class pharmaceuticals that can restore sensitivity to current targeted therapies in cancer patients who have become resistant to them. The business developed a small chemical pipeline in oncology that targets the start of mRNA translation.

“Our goal is to dramatically improve the standard of care in cancer patients; by restoring sensitivity and avoiding resistance to current targeted therapies. 

We have assembled a strong team of drug developers, scientists and investors,” states Alejo Chorny, COO of Aglaia Therapeutics. “With this seed investment, Aglaia Therapeutics is extremely well-positioned to advance its preclinical programs in the coming years and select its first innovative program.”

While targeted therapies have definitely improved cancer patient outcomes, their overall efficacy decreases with time, and patients develop resistance to these treatments quickly. Furthermore, even when cancer cells respond entirely to treatment, small populations of cancer cells typically survive, leading to cancer relapse, which remains one of the most challenging impediments to effective treatment.

“Aglaia Tx is a good example of our entrepreneur-investor approach and we firmly believe that its work opens up the possibility of tackling relapses, one of the main unmet medical needs in cancer treatment today,” adds Matthieu Coutet, Managing Partner at AFB. “We are thrilled to bring together two leading European cancer institutes, Gustave Roussy and Institut Curie; to collaborate on this unique startup creation aimed at overcoming resistance in oncology targeted therapies.”