allosteric-drug-discovery
(3)
HotSpot Therapeutics, Inc.
HotSpot Therapeutics is a Boston-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a new class of allosteric medicines. Using its proprietary Smart Allostery and SpotFinder platforms, the company systematically identifies 'natural hotspots' - regulatory allosteric pockets the body uses to switch proteins on and off - to drug targets long considered undruggable. Its small-molecule pipeline spans oncology (CBL-B, CBM signalosome/KRAS) and autoimmune disease (IRF5), with its lead CBL-B inhibitor HST-1011 in Phase 1/2 clinical trials.
Quanta Therapeutics
Quanta Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in South San Francisco building allosteric small-molecule inhibitors for RAS-driven cancers. Using a proprietary Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) optical platform that detects subtle changes in protein conformation, Quanta designs oral drugs aimed at KRAS mutations long considered undruggable - including G12D and G12V - that together drive a large share of pancreatic, colorectal, lung and endometrial cancers. Its lead candidate QTX3034 is in Phase 1 trials, with QTX3544 and a pan-KRAS program close behind.
Jonathan Montagu
Jonathan Montagu is the co-founder and CEO of HotSpot Therapeutics, a Boston biotech he started in 2017 to chase what the industry long called undruggable. His bet: target the 'natural hotspots' that evolution built into proteins to switch them on and off, and you can make small-molecule medicines with precision the old playbook couldn't reach. A chemist trained at Oxford, Scripps and Cancer Research UK with a Stanford MBA, he previously did the dealmaking that put Nimbus Therapeutics and Concert Pharmaceuticals on the map, including a $1B GSK transaction. Under him HotSpot has raised roughly $210M and pushed its Smart Allostery platform into the clinic, presenting first-in-human Phase 1 data on its CBL-B inhibitor HST-1011 at ESMO 2024.