Only Pediatric Cancer

Childhood cancers are rare diseases and industry has so far disregarded the development of specific pediatric cancer drugs. Due to insufficient specific therapies for children with cancer, pediatric oncologists are forced to adjust adult cancer treatments for childhood cancer. However, pediatric cancer differs significantly from adult cancers, both in physiology and mutations.

The FDA has approved 34 drugs for use in pediatric cancer although most of them have been developed and approved first in adults. Today, we have only 6 drugs available to treat childhood cancer that were approved in the first instance for use in children. For these reasons, Oncoheroes was born to focus only on pediatric oncology drug development.

Higher Unmet Needs

Our current strategy is to prioritize projects related to pediatric cancer types that have the highest prevalence and the worse prognosis. We are developing and actively scouting for potential new generations of highly-targeted drugs for subsets of populations and tumors on:

  • Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG)

  • Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT)

  • Medulloblastoma

  • Acute Myeloid Leukemia

  • Neuroblastoma

  • Rhabdomyosarcoma

  • Ewing’s Sarcoma

  • Osteosarcoma

Whole Spectrum Coverage

We cover the whole drug development spectrum, from bench to bedside.

 
 
 

DISCOVERY

Oncoheroes drug discovery laboratory, inside the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), is the first industry lab exclusively devoted to the discovery of new pediatric oncology targets, biomarkers and candidate drugs.

We believe that the identification and characterization of new oncogenic pathways and their interconnection will facilitate the development of novel pediatric cancer drugs and ensure more effective and less toxic cancer treatments. 

Our current strategy relays on:

  • Highly predictive pediatric models: We are developing in-vitro representative pediatric oncology models to evaluate drug efficacy and anticipate early drug toxicity.

  • Synthetic Lethality as highly selective cancer therapy approach: Synthetic lethality refers to the death of cells caused by concomitant perturbations of two genes (loss-of-function mutations, RNA interference, drug treatment, etc.), each of which is nonlethal alone. Our approach allows the development of cancer-specific treatments, targeting a gene that is lethal only in presence of a cancer-relevant mutation. Therefore, killing only cancer cells and sparing normal cells.

 

CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT

In addition to further support the development of the discovery unit’s candidates, we are actively identifying external clinic-ready assets for in-licensing, in order to obtain fast-track regulatory approval and provide substantial benefits to patients.

We have assembled a strong clinical development team and defined a comprehensive strategy in order to identify the most promising pediatric cancer drug candidates.

Oncoheroes’ robuts process for asset selection relies on the following:

  • Compelling science to address clinical need: Clear hypothesis to test in patients.

  • Strong biology/medical rationale and reduced rick: biomarkers inclusion to ensure target engagement.

  • Clear go/no-go decision points: Killer experiment to test hypothesis.

PIPELINE

Project

Discovery

Preclinical

Phase I

Phase II/III

Approved

Medulloblastoma

 

Rhabdomyosarcoma

Volasertib

Learn more

 

and continuously identifying and evaluating more assets

 

ONCOHEROES is

committed to lead

the way to new

lifesaving treatments

for children with cancer