Divide & Conquer, Developing New Class of Cancer Therapeutics to Disrupt Cell-to-Cell Communication, Emerges from Stealth as New Paper by…

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Divide & Conquer (D&C), a biotechnology company formed in 2018 with a 10 million (approximately $13.1 million) Series A financing from Medicxi. has left stealth mode to mark the publication of another paper in Nature co-authored by one of its founders, Prof. Frank Winkler of Heidelberg University.

Leveraging Prof. Winklers ground-breaking research published in Nature in 2015 and again this month, Divide & Conquer aims to open a new front in the war on cancer by disrupting the cell-to-cell communication mechanisms of solid tumour cells. The new research shows that the ability of cancer cells to form social networks makes them almost invincible, which is why current drugs fail to cure many patients.

The companys initial focus is on glioblastoma, a lethal form of brain cancer, where cancer cells have been shown to communicate with each other via structures called tumour microtubes.

Co-Founder David Grainger, PhD commented, There is mounting evidence, accumulated over decades, and now taken to the next level in Prof. Winklers papers in Nature, that solid tumours can leverage this network effect to evade all attempts to kill them. We now have compelling evidence that it can be disrupted, with the potential to render the most lethal tumour types curable.

Professor Miroslav Radman, the third co-founder of Divide & Conquer, was one of the first academic scientists to propose that mutation-riddled tumours must share materials between themselves, and with healthy cells, in order to survive and propagate. Bringing together his expertise with that of Prof. Winkler has allowed Divide & Conquer to discover a new class of cancer therapeutics that focus on disrupting these networks.

There is no shortage of biotech start-ups targeting cancer, but this research from Professors Radman and Winkler represents some of the most exciting work in the area that Ive seen, said Moncef Slaoui, PhD, a Director at Divide & Conquer. Glioblastoma is a devastating disease and one of the greatest unmet medical needs. The evidence is now compelling that these networks lie at the heart of this cancers resistance to treatment. At Divide & Conquer we aim to develop new medicines that disrupt such communication between cancer cells and bring these to clinical trials in patients.

Nature is publishing Prof Winklers latest research concurrently with an article on a related topic by a team at Stanford Medicine led by Michelle Monje, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Neuro-Oncology, emphasising the growing body of research in this area.

Dr. Slaoui concluded, Beyond glioblastoma, we envision expanding to other solid tumours such as brain metastasis, the hardest to treat form of breast cancer (so-called triple negative), pancreatic cancer and others. Indeed, we predict that the drugs we develop may be most effective in tumours that are currently the most difficult to treat.

Links

About the Divide & Conquer Founding Team

About Cellular Parabiosis

Cellular parabiosis refers to the ability of individual cells in a tissue to share and exchange contents: ions, small molecules, ribonucleic acid (RNA), proteins, and even whole cell organelles. This cellular solidarity is established via extensions such as tunnelling nanotubes (TNTs) and tumour microtubes (TMs), and transport vehicles such as exosomes, and pores such as gap junctions. Cellular parabiosis allows mutation-riddled tumours to survive and thrive, and even share their toolkit of resistance mechanisms. More information on Cellular Parabiosis is here.

About Divide & Conquer

Divide & Conquer is a biotechnology company focused on discovery and development of a new class of oncology therapeutics aimed at disrupting communication and complementation between cancer cells, also known as cellular parabiosis. The company was founded by David Grainger, PhD, Prof. Miroslav Radman, and Prof. Frank Winkler, and received A-round funding from Medicxi.

Please see conquer.bio for more information, and connect with the company on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Medicxi

Medicxi is an international investment firm with the mission to create and invest in companies across the full healthcare continuum. Medicxi was established by the former Index Ventures life sciences team and invests in both early stage and late stage therapeutics with a product vision that can fulfill a clear unmet medical need. GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson Innovation JJDC, Inc., Novartis and Verily (an Alphabet company) are investors in Medicxi funds.

Medicxis team has been investing in life sciences for over 20 years. Globally, it has invested in 89 innovative biopharma companies and achieved 32 exits through IPO and M&A, including Genmab (NASDAQ Copenhagen: GEN), PanGenetics (sold to AbbVie), Cellzome (sold to GSK), Micromet (sold to Amgen), Molecular Partners (SWX: MOLN), XO1 (sold to Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), Minerva Neurosciences (NASDAQ: NERV), Padlock Therapeutics (sold to Bristol-Myers Squibb), Gadeta (structured transaction with Gilead), Impact Biomedicines (sold to Celgene), and Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: ADPT).

Please see http://www.medicxi.com for more information.

Read more:
Divide & Conquer, Developing New Class of Cancer Therapeutics to Disrupt Cell-to-Cell Communication, Emerges from Stealth as New Paper by...