A major development in the science of cancer therapy.
Genus Oncology is advancing first-in-class agents from the laboratory as promising drug candidates in the clinic.
Most tumor cells express high levels of the MUC1 protein. Genus has identified MUC1-C as the oncoprotein subunit of MUC1, and is developing proprietary drugs and biomarkers targeting MUC1-C with the potential to treat a wide range of otherwise intractable cancers.
The number of cancers that have elevated levels of MUC1-C represents a significant opportunity. The MUC1-C protein is over expressed in 80–90% of all solid tumors and many hematologic cancers, which represents a very large market for a novel drug.
Genus scientists have shown that MUC1-C, the transmembrane subunit of MUC1, is key to tumor formation in many solid cancers and leukemias, and is critical to cancer stem cell function.
MUC1-C is a druggable target, and Genus is directly targeting the specific site on the widely implicated Mucin 1 (MUC1) protein to block the protein interactions that transform normal cells into tumor cells. Genus is developing MUC1-C targeted therapies that can potentially treat a wide range of carcinomas and hematologic malignancies, including Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), Multiple Myeloma, breast, lung, prostate, colon, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, which affect millions of patients every year. Importantly, Genus also has developed specific biomarker assays that identify patients most likely to respond to therapy. Our technology is unique and our success to date in models of intractable cancers is unprecedented.