solid-tumors
(29)
Ankyra Therapeutics
Ankyra Therapeutics is a clinical-stage Boston biotech developing anchored immunotherapy - a platform that physically tethers potent immune-modulating drugs to aluminum hydroxide so they stay concentrated inside a tumor rather than spreading through the body. Its lead candidate, tolododekin alfa (ANK-101), anchors the powerful cytokine IL-12 in the tumor microenvironment, aiming to unlock IL-12's anti-tumor activity while avoiding the systemic toxicity that has historically limited it. Founded in 2019 out of MIT science and led by CEO Howard L. Kaufman, the company is running Phase 1/1b trials in advanced solid tumors, including combinations with immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Leucid Bio
Leucid Bio is a clinical-stage London biotech developing next-generation CAR-T cell therapies for refractory solid tumors. Spun out of King's College London in 2014 to commercialize two decades of research by Dr John Maher, the company's proprietary Lateral CAR platform redesigns the CAR receptor so its signalling domains sit laterally alongside the cell membrane - mimicking natural immune receptors to boost potency while reducing toxicity. Its lead candidate, LEU011, is an autologous NKG2D-targeting CAR-T therapy now in the Phase I/IIa AERIAL trial for refractory solid tumors.
Triumvira Immunologics, Inc.
Triumvira Immunologics is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing engineered T cell therapies built on its proprietary T cell Antigen Coupler (TAC) platform. Unlike CAR-T, the TAC molecule co-opts the natural T cell receptor to recognize and attack cancer cells, aiming for a more physiological immune response with a potentially safer profile. The company advances autologous and allogeneic TAC T cell candidates against solid-tumor antigens such as HER2, Claudin 18.2, GPC3 and GUCY2C.
Eureka Therapeutics, Inc.
Eureka Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in Emeryville, California, developing next-generation T-cell therapies for cancer, with a focus on hard-to-treat solid tumors. Founded in 2006 by Dr. Cheng Liu, the company pairs its E-ALPHA phage-display antibody engine with its ARTEMIS T-cell receptor platform - an alternative to conventional CAR-T designed to keep engineered T cells potent inside immunosuppressive tumors while sharply reducing the inflammatory cytokine release linked to CAR-T toxicity. Its lead program, ECT204, targets GPC3-positive advanced liver cancer and has received FDA RMAT designation.
Aulos Bioscience
Aulos Bioscience is a Larkspur, California, clinical-stage immuno-oncology company using artificial intelligence to design antibody therapeutics that unlock the anti-cancer power of interleukin-2 (IL-2). Its lead candidate, imneskibart (AU-007) - described as the first AI-designed human monoclonal antibody to enter human clinical trials - redirects IL-2 away from immune-suppressing regulatory T cells and toward immune-activating effector T cells and NK cells, aiming to treat solid tumors such as melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer while avoiding the toxicity that has limited earlier IL-2 therapies.
Dispatch Bio
Dispatch Bio is a Philadelphia-based cancer biotech that emerged from stealth in July 2025 with $216 million to pursue a 'universal' immunotherapy for solid tumors. Its first-in-class Flare platform uses an engineered virus to install a synthetic, tumor-specific antigen on cancer cells while remodeling the tumor's immune-suppressive environment, effectively giving CAR T cells a target where none existed. Founded in 2022 out of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and ARCH Venture Partners, the company is led by CEO Sabah Oney and counts CAR T pioneer Carl June among its scientific co-founders.
Glycyx
Glycyx is a San Francisco biopharmaceutical company developing axelopran, an orally administered peripheral mu-opioid receptor antagonist, to counter opioid-induced immunodeficiency in cancer patients. Roughly 45% of immunotherapy patients take opioids for pain, and studies link that use to sharply worse outcomes on checkpoint inhibitors. Axelopran blocks opioid signaling on immune cells - without touching pain relief - to restore T-cell infiltration into tumors and make 'cold' tumors respond to immunotherapy. The company is Phase 2b-ready with an active IND and has drawn NIH SBIR grant support.
KaliVir Immunotherapeutics
KaliVir Immunotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech developing next-generation oncolytic viral immunotherapies for cancer. Its proprietary Vaccinia Enhanced Template (VET) platform engineers vaccinia viruses that can be delivered intravenously, replicate selectively in tumors, and express therapeutic payloads that reshape the tumor microenvironment. Founded in 2019 and headquartered in Pittsburgh, the company advances an internal lead candidate, VET3-TGI, alongside partnered programs licensed to Astellas Pharma and Roche.
Kivu Bioscience
Kivu Bioscience is a clinical-stage biotechnology company in San Mateo, California, building next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) for solid tumors. Founded by BioGeneration Ventures and led by ADC veteran Mohit Trikha, the company licenses Synaffix's GlycoConnect and HydraSpace site-specific conjugation technology to engineer more homogeneous, stable ADCs that aim to widen the therapeutic window - hitting tumors harder while sparing healthy tissue. Backed by a $92 million Series A led by Novo Holdings, Kivu has moved its lead candidates KIVU-107 (PTK7) and KIVU-305 (CEACAM5) into Phase 1 clinical trials.
MBrace Therapeutics
MBrace Therapeutics is a clinical-stage oncology company building antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) against hard-to-drug cancer targets. Its proprietary SPARTA platform screens antibodies directly inside living tumors to surface antigens that are cancer-specific, accessible, and internalizing - the traits an ADC needs to deliver its toxic payload where it counts. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in San Diego, the company raised an $85M Series B in 2023 (led by TPG) to advance a pipeline led by MBRC-101, a first-in-class ADC targeting the EphA5 receptor now in Phase 1/2 clinical trials.
NEOK Bio
NEOK Bio is a Palo Alto-based clinical-stage biotechnology company developing bispecific antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) for solid tumors. Founded and led by physician-executive Mayank Gandhi and backed by Korean antibody specialist ABL Bio, NEOK launched from stealth in November 2025 with a $75 million Series A. Its dual-targeting approach binds two complementary tumor antigens at once, aiming to widen the therapeutic window and overcome the resistance and toxicity limits of conventional single-target ADCs. The company's two lead programs, NEOK001 (ROR1/B7-H3) and NEOK002 (EGFR/MUC1), both cleared FDA IND review in early 2026 and are headed into Phase 1 studies.
T-knife Therapeutics
T-knife Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech engineering T-cell receptor (TCR-T) therapies to treat solid tumors. Spun out of Berlin's Max Delbrück Center in 2015, it built a proprietary humanized-TCR mouse platform (HuTCR) that grows a full human immune repertoire in mice, letting the company harvest fully human TCRs naturally selected for affinity and specificity. Now dual-based in San Francisco and Berlin, T-knife is advancing 'supercharged' TCR-T candidates - including a PRAME-targeted, CRISPR-armored therapy (TK-6302) entering the clinic - against cancers that have long resisted cell therapy.
CatenaBio
CatenaBio is a UC Berkeley spinout building a next-generation bioconjugation platform for targeted cancer therapies. Its proprietary CysTyr platform uses an engineered enzyme, Catenase, to forge a site-specific bond between cysteine and tyrosine residues (the C-Y Bond) using only native amino acids. This lets the company attach multiple different drug payloads to a single antibody, producing Multi-Payload Conjugates (MPCs) designed to overcome tumor resistance where conventional single-payload ADCs fall short.
Shennon Biotechnologies
Shennon Biotechnologies is a San Francisco biotech turning immune-cell target discovery from a months-long slog into a same-day job. Its proprietary TCELERATOR platform fuses ultra-high-throughput microfluidics with AI to functionally profile millions of single immune cells in hours, pinpointing the rare T and B cells that recognize cancer antigens. Founded in 2021 by physicist-turned-founder Li Sun, the company is building a pipeline of validated targets for solid tumors and autoimmune disease, backed by a $13M seed round led by DCVC.
T-Cypher Bio
T-Cypher Bio is an Oxford, UK biotechnology company building a pipeline of TCR (T cell receptor) therapeutics for solid tumours and immune-mediated diseases. Spun out of Orbit Discovery in 2021 on technology licensed from the University of Oxford, it pairs a high-throughput, functional bead-display platform with immunopeptidomics, AI and bioinformatics to deconvolute vast T cell repertoires, find disease-specific targets, and identify potent, target-specific TCRs.
Alentis Therapeutics
Alentis Therapeutics is a Swiss clinical-stage biotech built around a single, unusual biological target: Claudin-1 (CLDN1), a tight-junction protein that becomes exposed in both fibrotic tissue and solid tumors. Founded in 2019 on the discovery of physician-scientist Professor Thomas Baumert, the company develops first-in-class monoclonal antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates that bind exposed CLDN1 to reverse organ fibrosis and treat CLDN1-positive cancers. Headquartered in Allschwil near Basel with R&D roots in Strasbourg, Alentis has raised roughly $365 million across rounds, including a $181.4 million Series D in November 2024, and is running clinical trials for its lead antibody lixudebart (ALE.F02) and two ADCs, ALE.P02 and ALE.P03.
Arsenal Biosciences, Inc.
Arsenal Biosciences (ArsenalBio) is a clinical-stage, programmable cell therapy company in South San Francisco engineering CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumors. By combining CRISPR genome engineering, synthetic biology, high-throughput target discovery and machine learning, it builds 'integrated circuit T cells' that carry logic gates and multiple drug functions to attack tumors while sparing healthy tissue. Founded in 2019 by surgeon-executive Ken Drazan with leading academic immunologists, the company has raised roughly $850M total, including an oversubscribed $325M Series C in 2024 backed by ARCH, NVIDIA's NVentures, Regeneron Ventures and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Autem Therapeutics
Autem Therapeutics is a Hanover, New Hampshire bioelectric oncology company developing AutEMsys, a non-invasive, non-toxic device that delivers personalized, low-level, amplitude-modulated electromagnetic frequencies to patients with solid tumors. Founded by medical oncologist Frederico Costa and led by CEO Michael Choukas, the company targets hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) and other hard-to-treat cancers, aiming to make effective cancer care portable, affordable, and accessible worldwide. Its lead program has earned FDA Breakthrough Device designation for advanced HCC.
AvenCell Therapeutics
AvenCell Therapeutics is a clinical-stage cell therapy company building switchable, universal CAR-T treatments that can be turned 'off' and 'on' even after they are inside a patient. By pairing this controllable switch with a CRISPR-engineered, off-the-shelf allogeneic platform, AvenCell aims to widen the narrow safety window of conventional CAR-T while cutting the cost and wait time of manufacturing, targeting hard-to-treat blood cancers like AML, B-cell malignancies and, increasingly, autoimmune disease.
克睿基因 Cure Genetics
克睿基因 Cure Genetics is a clinical-stage biotech founded in Suzhou in 2016 that develops cell and gene therapies for solid tumors and genetic diseases. It runs two proprietary platforms: AIMS, an allogeneic CAR-NKT cell therapy approach aimed at hard-to-treat solid tumors, and VELP, a directed-evolution AAV vector platform that builds high-quality viral libraries for tissue-targeted gene delivery to the nervous system, heart, and kidney. Its lead programs include CGC729 (anti-CD70 CAR-NKT for renal cell carcinoma) and CGC-602 (a PD-1-IL-2v bispecific antibody).
MaveriX Oncology, Inc.
MaveriX Oncology is a Palo Alto biotech developing conditionally activated small molecule drug conjugates (CA-SMDCs) that exploit tumor-associated hydroxylase biology to deliver cytotoxic and immunomodulatory payloads selectively to solid tumors. Its IMPACT-2X platform aims to widen the therapeutic window of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, killing cancer cells while turning 'cold' immunosuppressive tumors 'hot.' Founded by veteran oncology drug developers and backed by PPF Group and SOTIO, the company's lead program is MVX-5005.
Outpace Bio
Outpace Bio is a Seattle biotech using AI-powered de novo protein design to program immune cells - especially CAR T cells - that can recognize and destroy solid tumors while limiting harmful side effects. Spun out of Lyell Immunopharma in 2021 by Institute for Protein Design alumni, the company has raised roughly $199M and is advancing its lead candidate, OPB-101, a mesothelin-targeted CAR T therapy for platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, toward the clinic.
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.
Aleta Biotherapeutics
Aleta Biotherapeutics is a Natick, Massachusetts immuno-oncology company building CAR T Engagers (CTEs) - simple biologic proteins that make existing CAR-T cell therapies work better. Its lead drug, ALETA-001, bridges a patient's CD19-targeted CAR T-cells to CD20 on cancer cells, aiming to rescue patients who relapse after standard CAR-T treatment for B-cell cancers. Founded in 2015 by Paul Rennert and Roy Lobb, the company is running a Phase 1/2 trial in the UK with Cancer Research UK and reported encouraging early data in December 2025.
Crossbow Therapeutics, Inc.
Crossbow Therapeutics is a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotechnology company building a new class of cancer immunotherapies. Its T-Bolt platform engineers TCR-mimetic antibodies - T-cell engagers that recognize tiny peptide fragments displayed on a cancer cell's surface (peptide-HLA complexes), opening up intracellular proteins that conventional antibodies cannot reach. The lead program, CBX-250, is a first-in-class T-cell engager in a Phase 1 trial for relapsed or refractory myeloid malignancies. Backed by more than $157M in venture funding, Crossbow aims to expand the universe of targetable cancer antigens.
Simcha Therapeutics
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.
Akamis Bio
Akamis Bio is a clinical-stage oncology company building intravenously delivered, tumor-targeted gene therapies on its Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene (T-SIGn) platform. Using a replication-competent, directed-evolution-engineered group B adenovirus that selectively infects epithelial-derived solid tumors, Akamis turns cancer cells into local 'drug factories' that express immune-modulating payloads inside the tumor while sparing healthy tissue. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (with UK roots as the former PsiOxus Therapeutics), its lead program NG-350A delivers a CD40 agonist antibody directly to primary and metastatic tumors.
Normunity
Normunity is a clinical-stage biotech building a new class of cancer drugs it calls 'immune normalizers' - antibodies and T cell engagers that target previously hidden mechanisms tumors use to evade the immune system. Founded on the science of Yale immunologist Lieping Chen and led by drug-development veteran Rachel Humphrey, the company runs research at Yale's West Campus in West Haven, Connecticut, and dosed its first patient in 2025.
Ratio Therapeutics
Ratio Therapeutics is a Boston-based clinical-stage biotech engineering next-generation targeted radiopharmaceuticals for solid tumors. Its proprietary Trillium and Macropa platforms tune how radioactive cancer-killing payloads travel through the body, aiming to deliver a lethal dose to tumors while sparing healthy tissue. Backed by major pharma partners including Novartis, Bayer, Lantheus and Bristol Myers Squibb, Ratio is advancing FAP- and SSTR2-targeted programs from imaging into therapy.