Bold Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that was founded in 2018 by a team of industry veterans to develop and commercialize novel metallotherapeutics. At Bold Therapeutics we leverage the unique Mechanism of Action and complex chemistry of metal-based complexes to address the unmet needs for the treatment of advanced cancers.
Metallotherapeutics, or metal-based small molecule therapeutics, are unquestionably some of the most effective anticancer agents available. Despite significant advances in biologic and gene therapies, cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin continue to be included in the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, and even today a majority of cancer patients receive a metallotherapeutic at some point in the course of their treatment.
Cisplatin, or (SP-4-2)-diamminedichloridoplatinum(II), arguably the first metallotherapeutic, remains one of the most potent and widely used anticancer drugs, with proven utility in the treatment of testicular, ovarian, head and neck, bladder, lung, and cervical cancer, as well as melanoma and lymphomas. Cisplatin has a multimodal mechanism-of-action, with its primary mechanism involving generation of DNA lesions by interacting with purine bases on DNA followed by activation of several signal transduction pathways, leading to apoptosis. Unlike targeted therapies, which are easily evaded through pathway redundancy and resistance mechanisms, this multimodal mechanism-of-action gives cisplatin unmatched breadth of utility across indications and combinations.
Bold Therapeutics looks to leverage the multimodal mechanisms-of-action of metal-based therapeutics to create a robust pipeline of the next-generation of metallotherapeutics to treat the unmet needs in advanced cancers. Bold’s lead candidate, BOLD-100, has a multimodal mechanism-of-action with evident therapeutic potential in gastric, pancreatic, colorectal and other gastrointestinal cancers. BOLD-100 causes DNA damage and cell cycle arrest -- but it also alters the unfolded protein response (UPR) through selective GRP78 inhibition, a mechanism that appears difficult to evade and particularly effective against heavily mutated or resistant cancer cell lines. As a result, extensive preclinical and, more recently, clinical data suggests that BOLD-100 could enhance the effectiveness of a wide range of existing cancer therapies and significantly improve patient outcomes. BOLD-100 has already received Orphan Drug Designations (ODDs) in gastric and pancreatic cancers, and is expected to receive a Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) in colorectal cancer and potentially other gastrointestinal indications in the future.
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Realizing the untapped potential of metallotherapeutics and leveraging unparalleled development and manufacturing expertise in metallotherapeutics, Bold Therapeutics is focused on discovering and developing the next generation of metallotherapeutics with novel mechanisms-of-action, broad therapeutic potential, high potency, and low systemic toxicity.