clinical-stage-biopharma
(6)
Sparrow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Sparrow Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing clofutriben, an oral, once-daily HSD-1 inhibitor that lowers active cortisol inside specific tissues rather than shutting down the body's steroid system entirely. Founded in 2013 by scientist David Katz, the company has raised roughly $145 million across Series A and Series B rounds and is running the Phase 2b CAPTAIN-T2D trial in patients with type 2 diabetes and elevated cortisol, alongside programs in Cushing's syndrome and autonomous cortisol secretion.
Teon Therapeutics, Inc.
Teon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage, privately held biopharmaceutical company in Redwood City, California, developing a focused portfolio of orally administered small-molecule drugs that block immunosuppressive, cancer-promoting signaling pathways in the tumor microenvironment. Its GPCR-directed candidates - TT-702, a first-in-class adenosine A2B receptor antagonist, and TT-816, a first-in-class cannabinoid CB2 receptor antagonist - aim to restore anti-tumor immunity for the roughly 88% of solid-tumor patients who do not benefit from existing immunotherapies. The founding team members were primary inventors of Lexiscan, the only FDA-approved selective adenosine therapeutic.
CytomX Therapeutics
CytomX Therapeutics is a clinical-stage, oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company in South San Francisco that engineers conditionally activated antibody therapeutics through its proprietary PROBODY platform. By masking a drug's binding site and unmasking it only in the tumor microenvironment - where specific proteases cut a cleavable linker - CytomX aims to hit cancer targets that are otherwise too toxic to drug, widening the therapeutic window for antibody-drug conjugates, T-cell engagers and cytokines. Its wholly owned pipeline is led by CX-2051, an EpCAM-targeting PROBODY ADC for metastatic colorectal cancer, alongside masked interferon CX-801 and T-cell engager CX-904, and it partners its technology with Amgen, Astellas, Bristol Myers Squibb, Moderna and Regeneron.
AusperBio
AusperBio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company operating in the United States and China that develops antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies aimed at a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B. Built on its proprietary Med-Oligo ASO platform and targeted delivery technology, its lead candidate AHB-137 is an unconjugated ASO advancing into Phase III trials in China, with early data showing a 30% functional cure rate in a subset of patients. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in San Mateo, California, the company has raised over $200 million to date.
Seneca Therapeutics, Inc.
Seneca Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing targeted oncolytic immunotherapeutics built on SVV-001, a non-pathogenic Seneca Valley Virus that selectively replicates in solid-tumor cells expressing the TEM8/ANTXR1 receptor. Founded by oncolytic-virus pioneer Dr. Paul Hallenbeck, the company pairs SVV-001 with immune modulators and checkpoint inhibitors to spark systemic anti-tumor immunity, and is advancing a Phase I/II trial in high-grade neuroendocrine neoplasms while building a pipeline of armed and neo-antigen viral constructs.
Parabilis Medicines
Parabilis Medicines is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in Cambridge, Massachusetts building stabilized, cell-penetrant alpha-helical peptides - called Helicons - that reach intracellular and 'undruggable' protein targets out of range for traditional small molecules and biologics. Formerly FogPharma, the company's lead candidate zolucatetide (FOG-001) is the first direct inhibitor of the beta-catenin/TCF interaction driving Wnt-pathway cancers, and is heading toward a registrational Phase 3 trial in desmoid tumors. Led by CEO Mathai Mammen and founded on Gregory Verdine's stapled-peptide chemistry, Parabilis has raised more than $860M, signed an up-to-$2.3B collaboration with Regeneron, and filed to go public on Nasdaq under the ticker PBLS.