SCIENCE

OUR SCIENCE

A NEW FOCUS FOR CANCER RESEARCH

The Penrose science is focused on killing cancer cells in a novel way, through targeted necrosis, a promising new endgame for eradicating refractory cancer cells in the body. All current approaches, including chemotherapy, precision targeted therapies, and immunotherapy eradicate cancer cells through apoptosis, or natural programmed cell death. Refractory cancer cells, however, have evolved to evade apoptosis and fail to respond to even the most aggressive, currently available treatment options.

A NOVEL PLATFORM

Penrose, through unprecedented tissue-driven pharmacologic insights, has pioneered a next-generation class of Mitochondrial Modifying Agents (MMA), which create a selective mitochondrial vulnerability that ultimately lead to cancer cell metabolic collapse. Since mitochondria are essential bioenergetic, biosynthetic, and signaling factories that are critical for cancer cell survival and growth, we’re going straight to the epicenter of cancer cell survival, killing them from the inside out.

THE MMA APPROACH

The MMA approach has several promising advantages over the traditional anti-cancer therapies:

MMAs have broad potential application to both hematologic and solid malignancies independent of cancer site of origin

Small molecules reprogram cancer cell mitochondria to a point of therapeutic vulnerability to metabolic collapse

MMAs address the metabolic flexibility and plasticity that is a hallmark of advanced cancer heterogeneity

Heavily pretreated, relapsed/refractory cancers are more vulnerable to the MMA approach, allowing use of low doses of therapeutics with potential for an extremely wide therapeutic window

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DISCOVERY PLATFORM

Building a pipeline of next-generation MMA therapies

In addition to our lead candidate, Penrose has identified additional assets that are hypothesized to be more effective based on our rational chemistry-driven foundation. These include RP-0330 and RP0340. The Penrose scientific teams are utilizing high throughput screening to evaluate these compounds in early preclinical research, as well as identify additional analogues for testing.