Palm Therapeutics

University of California, San Diego

Palm Therapeutics is a San Diego based biotechnology startup, and member of JLABS@San Diego, in the early stages of development of an innovative class of drugs known as depalmitoylating molecules (DPALMs). The DPALM strategy was developed in the Devaraj Lab at The University of California San Diego by Dr. Andrew Rudd and Prof. Neal Devaraj. Our technology targets post-translational protein palmitoylation and represents a fundamentally new approach to inhibiting protein function. In preliminary studies, NRas-targeted DPALMs have shown in vitro and in vivo efficacy in NRas-driven melanoma models, and in September 2020, we were awarded a Phase I SBIR from NIH/NCI to pursue this indication.

Toragen Biotechnologies

University of California, San Diego

(Raising $5.4M in a Series Seed Round - "we will deploy the proceeds from the round for our Phase I clinical trial with our lead drug candidate." Sept.2022 ) Toragen Biotechnologies is focused on developing, repurposing and commercializing uniquely selective cancer drugs targeting cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV associated cancers include Head and Neck Cancer, Cervical Cancer, and multiple other Genitourinary and Gastrointestinal Cancers. We are developing drugs designed to inhibit HPV oncogenes, the root cause of malignant transformation in these cancers. It is our intent that these drugs will be more selective for malignant cells and better tolerated by patients than traditional cytotoxic and radiation cancer therapy. Our drugs interfere with the ability of the HPV virus to inhibit the immune system and will thus enhance the ability of the immune system to eradicate these cancers and potentially augment the activity of existing immunotherapies for cancer.

3RT Innovations

University of California, San Diego

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) contributes to approximately one-third of all injury-related deaths in the United States, with total direct and indirect costs estimated in excess of $76 billion. TBI is also the leading environmental risk factor associated with the development of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a progressive degenerative disorder of the brain. Given the extensive public health burden, the lack of any approved therapies to modify the disease course for CTE continues to represent a critical unmet need. 3RT Innovations is a start-up founded in 2019 to address this need. We are currently developing a novel, brain penetrating antibody for the treatment of CTE. The neuropathology of CTE is characterized by abnormal aggregations of tau proteins in the neocortex with an organized filament structure comprised of three-repeat (3RTau) and four-repeat tau (4RTau). This organized filament structure is unique as it is found only in CTE and not in other tauopathies such as Alzheimer’s Disease.