Drug Target Review: CD24 Emerges as the Next Macrophage Checkpoint
November 3, 2025
With CD47 therapies constrained by safety, attention is turning to CD24 as a macrophage checkpoint target. Pheast’s PHST001 has now entered the clinic.
Immuno-oncology has been transformed by checkpoint inhibitors that release the brakes on T cells. Yet for many cancers, especially those lacking T-cell infiltration, these therapies deliver limited benefit.
In the search for greater success, attention is increasingly shifting to another arm of the immune system: macrophages.
Pheast Therapeutics is among the companies pursuing this approach. Under the medical leadership of Dr Raphaël Rousseau, Chief Medical Officer, the company is advancing PHST001, an anti-CD24 antibody designed to restore macrophage activity against tumours. The first patient was dosed in a phase I study earlier this year, marking Pheast’s transition into clinical-stage development.