King of Prussia, PA (PRWEB) July 21, 2015
U.S. based rising drug discovery star Felicitex Therapeutics received $200,000 in grant funding as part of a Universal Partnership Program through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center this week. The Universal Partnership Program is a Massachusetts grant initiative to help support life science companies that work with international partners. The grant will be used to fund Felicitex Therapeutics and its Polish counterpart, Selvita S.A.’s collaborative research and development on cancer resistant quiescent cancer cells. This non-dilutive grant represents yet another endorsement of the importance of quiescent cancer research.
Felicitex Therapeutics' technology targets quiescent, non-responsive (resistant to therapy) cancer cells with two therapeutically beneficial outcomes - first making quiescent cancer cells vulnerable to conventional treatments and second preventing cancer cells from surviving in the quiescent state for indeterminate period of time and thereby delaying or eliminating cancer recurrence. Felicitex is focused on the development of treatments for the deadliest and difficult to treat cancers.
Quiescent cells are the sleeping cancer cells which become dormant during cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, anti-angiogenesis therapy, specific targeted treatment or radiation. During such treatment methods these quiescent cells can become resistant the treatment, and after it’s completion may begin growing and cause cancer recurrence (also known as pharmacological quiescence).
The quiescent cell technology developed by Felicitex will destroy quiescent cancer cells from developing within the body. In addition, the therapy will clean reservoirs of future malignancy and prevent cancer from further proliferation and metastasis. This treatment works by weakening the quiescent cells, allowing them to be vulnerable to conventional cancer treatments, and additionally prevents cancer cells from entering into a dormant quiescence state, thereby eliminating the ability to develop into resistant phenotype.
Felicitex’s scientific team at its Cambridge, MA laboratories will continue to apply its expertise in cancer cell quiescence, anti-cancer drug development, and diagnostic assays, to move towards the filing of an IND for its lead candidate in Q4 2016.
"We are pleased to announce that the investment comes at a crucial time for growth and development of Felicitex's promising base of novel quiescence-active small molecule inhibitors. Our teams are excited, anxious, and ready to push our molecules further and prepare an IND filing for clinical trials” says Maria Vilenchik, PhD, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Scientific Director of Felicitex Therapeutics.
About Felicitex Therapeutics, Inc.
Felicitex Therapeutics is a leader in the area of cancer cell quiescence. Felicitex's mission is the discovery and development of chemotherapeutics for the disruption of certain as yet unaddressed cancer cell survival mechanisms. Felicitex develops treatments and diagnostic assays to improve the effectiveness and long-term outcomes of treatments for the deadliest and most resistant to therapy cancers: pancreatic, colorectal, non-small cell lung, and ovarian, among others. Felicitex Therapeutics, founded in 2012, is a privately owned company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts with additional laboratories in Watertown, Massachusetts and Business Development in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
More information is available at http://www.felicitex.com
Please contact Seth Shriner at SethShriner(at)prometrics(dot)com with any questions or comments.