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July 20, 2021

Bowel-disease biotech Thetis expands focus to cancer drugs 

PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED Gary Mathias, co-founder and chief executive officer

A local biotech startup working on a drug for inflammatory bowel disease is expanding its focus to cancer.

Thetis Pharmaceuticals, which had a lab in Branford before the pandemic, announced it is launching a new program to test its experimental Resolvin E1 therapy, known as TP-317, to treat solid tumors.

The company hopes to begin an early-stage human trial on TP-317 at the Yale Cancer Center next year, Aaron Mathias, the startup’s business development director, said in an email.

The drug is a naturally occurring lipid, discovered by researchers at Harvard Medical School, that can resolve inflammation and clear cell debris, according to the company. 

The FDA in December designated it an “orphan drug” for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, a form of IBD.

Thetis said the new cancer focus is based on research from the lab of Dr. Dipak Panigrahy, a professor at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School and Harvard Medical School who sits on the biotech’s scientific advisory board. 

“Our research demonstrates that tumor debris and inflammation are significant causes of cancer progression, resistance and metastasis,” which can be addressed by Resolvins like TP-317, Panigrahy said in a statement. 

Preclinical studies of the drug have shown progress against multiple tumor types, Thetis officials said.

The company will target pancreatic, metastatic colorectal, small cell lung and ovarian cancer for human testing.

“These are major cancers characterized by substantial tumor debris and inflammation, where existing therapies have limited efficacy,” Thetis CEO Gary Mathias said in a statement.

Thetis now lists its home base as Ridgefield after closing its Branford location to go virtual during the pandemic. 

But Aaron Mathias said the company will likely be back in the New Haven area next year,  when it expects to begin the Phase 1 cancer study in collaboration with Dr. Patricia LoRosso at Yale Cancer Center.

In connection with the cancer expansion, Thetis also announced it has recruited several prominent cancer researchers and industry veterans to a new scientific advisory board. 

Besides Panigrahy and LoRusso, other advisory board members include Wayne Klohns, the retired global therapeutic head for oncology at Astellas Pharma; Dr. Eileen O’Reilly, Winthrop Endowed Chair in Medical Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; and Dr. David Parkinson, president and CEO of ESSA Pharma. 

Aaron Mathias said the startup continues to advance its IBD program toward human testing and expects to announce a major investment later this year.

Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com

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