Atropos Selected as Finalist to Present in RESI San Francisco 2019 West Coast Pitch Challenge

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Jan. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Atropos Therapeutics, Inc., an early-stage senescence therapeutics discovery company, announced that it has been selected as one of the "top 8 ranked companies of the West Coast tech hubs" to present to a panel of early-stage investors at RESI (Redefining Early Stage Investments) San Francisco 2019, which was held during the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on January 8, 2019. The panel members were: Lindy Fishburne, Executive Director of Breakout Labs/Thiel Foundation; Melissa Krauth, Managing Partner, ES Ventures; Mike Edelhart, Managing Partner, Joyance Partners; Orrin Ailloni-Charas, MD, Managing Partner, Hermes Life Science Venture Fund; and Ravi Mistry, Member, TiE Angels.

"We are extremely pleased to be recognized by this distinguished group of life-sciences investors and the LSN RESI community," said Tommy Nguyen, MD PHD, CEO and co-founder of Atropos. "Everyone knows that aging-related diseases and resistant cancers remain a huge problem with today's solutions developed piecemeal for individual conditions," explained co-founder Dr. Andrew Koff, PHD. Nguyen further added, "This distinction helps validate our vision to reinvent the therapeutics paradigm using newly discovered small molecule compounds that target the ability to undergo senescence as the underlying mechanism. We look forward to a successful seed financing to support our programs for the next 24 months and generate lead compounds and IP."

Atropos' novel approach to senescence modulator (senomodulator) discovery is focused on high-throughput, high-content phenotypic screening of compound libraries and rational drug combinations. The proprietary technology platform, called FATES (First ATRX-based Therapeutics Elucidating Senescence) and devised by Dr. Koff (who is also a Member at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center), is designed to take advantage of the earliest known molecular marker to show commitment to the irreversible senescence pathway after transient growth arrest. The company is currently conducting preclinical lead selection studies, in order to establish efficacy and safety in in vitro and screening animal models and to support moving into IND-enabling studies for human clinical studies for disease indications in aging and resistant cancers. Lead Selection phase is expected to be complete by early 2020. Separately, the company plans to discover senosuppressor compounds with lower apoptosis and toxicity potential for testing in primary skin and other primary tissues. Since starting in March 2018, the company has secured significant funding from the NIH's (National Institutes of Health) NIA (National Institute of Aging), filed its first provisional patent application for the wholly owned technology platform, and established a company lab headquarters at MBC Labs San Carlos. The company is currently contemplating a seed investor round during this half to accomplish several corporate goals: building the R&D team, adding industry and small molecule expertise, and progressing its anti-aging program, cancer discovery program, and skin health program.

The RESI conference is staged by Life Science Nation (LSN).

SOURCE Atropos Therapeutics Inc.