Simcha Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in New Haven, Connecticut that uses directed evolution to engineer next-generation cytokine immunotherapies for cancer. Its lead program, ST-067, is a first-in-class 'decoy-resistant' interleukin-18 (IL-18) variant engineered to evade the natural decoy protein (IL-18BP) that tumors exploit to silence the immune system. Spun out of Aaron Ring's lab at Yale School of Medicine and backed by $40M in Series B financing, Simcha is advancing ST-067 through Phase 1/2 trials in solid tumors and partnering with Janssen to armor CAR T cell therapies.
Olatec Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in New York developing a platform of oral NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors to treat acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. Its lead compound, dapansutrile (OLT1177), is a selective small-molecule NLRP3 inhibitor that has shown clinical benefit and a clean safety profile across gout, heart failure and a broad range of inflammatory and neuroinflammatory conditions, positioning oral inflammasome blockade as a potential alternative to injectable IL-1 biologics.