Science

Overview

Many solid tumor cancers are surrounded by dense fibrotic tissue or stroma that creates a barrier to effective drug delivery. Cend’s technology provides a tumor-targeted approach to penetrate the stroma to more effectively treat solid tumor cancers.

Many cancers are also not well addressed by immunotherapies as the tumor microenvironment is dominated by immunosuppressive cell types that impair immune response. Cend’s treatment approach depletes certain immunosuppressive cell types, such as T regulatory (Treg) cells and increases the number of cancer-fighting immune cells.

By targeting and penetrating the stroma that represents a primary barrier to effective treatment, and by reducing the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that limits immune response to cancer, Cend aims to address key limitations to enable more effective treatment of solid tumor cancers.

The CendR Platform™

a tumor-targeted approach

A novel approach to tumor-targeted tissue penetration to enable more effective solid tumor treatments.

Cend’s lead investigational drug, CEND-1, has been combined with other treatments to enable more effective treatment of difficult to treat solid tumor cancers.

Targeted penetration of tumor stroma has limited application of nucleic acid-based drugs, such as antisense, siRNA and messenger RNA (mRNA) to treat solid tumor cancers. The CendR Platform incorporates technologies to enable more effective tumor-targeted, tissue penetrating delivery of nucleic acid-based drugs. In addition to tumor-targeting, tissue penetrating CendR peptides, the platform includes targeted nanoparticle technologies to help protect and target delivery. The Platform also includes endosome-release technologies to avoid endosome sequestration that can limit these drugs’ ability to reach their targeted cellular compartments.