Pipeline
Powering macrophages to address unmet medical needs
Pheast Therapeutics is advancing PHST001 and a robust discovery pipeline of macrophage-focused therapeutics to redefine immunotherapy for cancer and other dysregulated immune conditions.
For information about early access to our investigational therapies, please review our Compassionate Use / Expanded Access policy.
Anti-CD24: A Next Generation Cancer Immunotherapy
PHST001, our lead therapeutic candidate, is an anti-CD24 macrophage checkpoint inhibitor designed to overcome immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment. CD24, an immune receptor which was discovered by several Pheast co-founders, acts as a “don’t eat me” signal for cancer cells, shielding them from immune attack. By potently blocking the CD24-Siglec10 interaction, PHST001 enables macrophages to phagocytose cancer cells, initiating a powerful immune response.
Pheast has initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial of PHST001 in patients with advanced solid tumors (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT06840886). The study will evaluate safety, pharmacokinetics, and early signs of anti-tumor activity, with the goal of establishing a recommended Phase 2 dose.
Potential for Broad Efficacy across CD24+ Cancers:
CD24 is over expressed on many cancers, including but not limited to ovarian cancer, triple negative breast cancer, colorectal cancer, cholangiocarcinoma
Re-shaping the Tumor Microenvironment:
PHST001 may improve the anti-cancer response by other immune cells.
Engineering Excellence:
PHST001 was uniquely designed to bind all glyco-variants of CD24, ensuring robust activity across tumor types. With PHST001, we are targeting hard to treat cancers, with the potential to make a therapeutic impact in indications where existing immunotherapies have had limited success.
Potent Preclinical Results:
PHST001 demonstrates strong monotherapy efficacy in solid tumor models compared to other macrophage checkpoint inhibitors.
Why CD24?
Pheast’s initial focus on CD24 is based on the wealth of biological evidence, including human and cancer genetics, that highlight its important role in immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment. It is highly expressed in multiple cancer indications where other macrophage inhibitors have yet to demonstrate a clinical impact.
In some cancer types, CD24 is also a strong indicator of prognosis as patients with tumors that highly express CD24 have significantly lower survival rates than those with tumors expressing little CD24. In addition, CD24 presents advantages over some previously tested macrophage checkpoint targets. In particular, CD24 is not expressed on some sensitive hematopoietic cell types, such as red blood cells and platelets, which have posed safety challenges for other macrophage checkpoint targets.
Our Pipeline: The Next Frontier of Immune Modulation
CD24 is just one of a multitude of “don’t eat me” signals, and our experiments make it clear that some cancers are protected by multiple barriers to macrophage activation. We have expanded the same genetic technologies and molecular methods that were used to identify CD24 and have identifed novel macrophage checkpoint targets. In selecting our next development programs, we have engineered antibodies to target macrophage checkpoints and tumor-specific antigens, along with increasing therapeutic efficiency by adding cytotoxic payloads. Beyond, oncology, our technology is exploring approaches tailoring macrophages involved in inflammation indications.
Our discovery platform is unlocking new frontiers in immuno-oncology and immunology, focusing on:
- Identifying novel immune regulators using cutting-edge screening technologies
- Addressing challenging indications in oncology and immune disorders
- Advancing complementary approaches to maximize therapeutic impact