Velorum Therapeutics: Powerful cancer drugs that starve tumors
We're developing a new class of cancer drugs that starve tumors by hijacking cancer metabolism.
ABOUT VELORUM
Velorum Therapeutics is developing a new class of cancer drugs that starve tumors by hijacking cancer metabolism. We have shown our drugs work in mice and plan to begin human clinical trials next year, starting with the #1 cancer killer – lung cancer.
OUR SCIENCE
We’ve discovered that cancers are addicted to a molecule called ‘heme’. Heme, which is well-known as the central component of ‘hemoglobin’, is used by the mitochondria to make energy. Cancers ‘steal’ free-floating heme from the blood to fuel their rapid growth. Our patented drugs starve cancer by removing this heme that cancer cells need, but normal cells don’t. We’ve shown in animals that our drugs are highly effective for multiple cancers, without affecting healthy cells, even at the highest doses. Also, by starving tumors, we make them weaker and more susceptible to existing cancer treatments, like radiation, chemo, and immunotherapies.
The body has a natural system to clean up this free-floating heme, but it gets overwhelmed by cancer. Our drugs essentially amplify the body’s natural heme removal system. We let nature do most of the work – our drugs are built from proteins that have evolved over millennia to be perfect at capturing heme. Importantly, heme is the exact same molecule across all mammals, meaning the results we see in animals have a higher chance of translating to humans.
We’re starting with lung cancer, with a lead drug advancing to first-in-human trials next year. Because multiple types of cancers have this same vulnerability, our lead drug could potentially be used for lots of cancer types and become a standard-of-care treatment.
OUR TEAM
Parsa and Pouya are twin brothers and scientists who spent their entire adult lives studying how cancers make energy. They worked together on this breakthrough science over the past 5 years, helping develop this promising new class of cancer drugs. They founded Velorum to advance this breakthrough to patients, surrounding themselves with a team of world-class drug developers, scientists, and clinicians.
CONTACT US
To learn more about our science or support us on our mission, please reach out at info@velorumtx.com