Our Unique
RNA-based
Approach to Treating Cancer.
Impilo’s Platform is positioned to address the key challenges in effective delivery of nucleic acid-based medicines to treat solid tumor cancers. Nucleic acid-based medicines have been approved for a range of diseases, but none for the treatment of cancer. In spite of the potential to provide precision medicines that target the genetic basis of disease, early promise for this class of drugs in pre-clinical and early clinical development failed to translate into commercial success. The tumor stroma, composed of non-cancerous cells and extracellular matrix surrounding cancer cells, is a primary impediment to effective drug delivery to treat solid tumor cancers and a particular challenge for nucleic acid-based drugs.
The Impilo Platform™
Key components that differentiate the Impilo Platform technology include a proprietary tumor-targeted tissue-penetrating technology discovered by Dr. Ruoslahti and colleagues.
Proprietary tumor-targeted tissue
The internalizing RGD or iRGD peptide targets tumors via affinity for integrins that are selectively expressed on tumor vasculature and key cell types within the tumor stroma, including cancer cells themselves. Once bound to these integrins at the tumor, the peptide is cleaved to release a cryptic peptide fragment that initiates an active transport pathway to enable the peptide, peptide fragment, and tethered nucleic acid-based drugs, to penetrate the layers of the stroma to enable more effective treatment of solid tumor cancers.
Peptides targeting additional cell types
The Platform also includes peptides targeting additional cell types, such as tumor-associated macrophages. It further incorporates a range of different carrier formats and additional technologies to optimize application across a broad range of nucleic acid-based treatment modalities.