pancreatic-cancer
(5)
Arcus Biosciences
Arcus built a biotech around a deceptively practical idea: own the pieces of a drug combination before trying to assemble it. After a major TIGIT setback, its next chapter now rests on a kidney-cancer pill, a pancreatic-cancer trial and a careful expansion into inflammation.
Indi Molecular
Indi Molecular is a Culver City, California biotech developing a synthetic alternative to antibodies called Protein Catalyzed Capture (PCC) agents - small, stable cyclic peptides built with click chemistry that bind protein targets with antibody-like specificity while behaving like small-molecule drugs. Spun out of Caltech chemist James Heath's lab in 2013, the company applies its platform to targeted oncology therapeutics and PET imaging agents, aiming to reach targets long considered undruggable, including KRAS G12D pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer.
ClearNote Health
ClearNote Health is a San Diego molecular diagnostics company building non-invasive, blood-based tests that detect high-mortality cancers early, when treatment works best. Spun out of Stephen Quake's Stanford lab in 2016 (originally as Bluestar Genomics), it pairs a proprietary 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) epigenomic platform with cell-free DNA analysis and machine learning. Its flagship Avantect Pancreatic Cancer Test targets high-risk patients - including adults 50+ newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes - and the company is extending the approach to ovarian and multi-cancer detection.
GeneCentric Therapeutics
GeneCentric Therapeutics is a Durham, North Carolina precision-oncology company that reads cancer's gene activity, not just its mutations, from a tube of blood. Its proprietary EXpressCT technology infers RNA-based gene expression signatures from cell-free DNA fragmentomics, and its GenomicsNext platform combines that expression read-out with DNA variant detection in a single liquid biopsy. The company also markets PurIST, an RNA expression subtyping test for pancreatic cancer. Founded in 2011 out of gene-expression research at UNC, GeneCentric partners with biopharma and commercial labs to bring richer, blood-based biomarkers into routine cancer care.
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.