Cartography Biosciences and Nested Therapeutics: Diamonds in the rough

NEWS FEATURE
02 October 2023

Two start-ups are taking a deep dive into cancer genomes to unearth new therapeutic targets.

Laura DeFrancesco

Senior Editor, Nature Biotechnology

Too many cancer therapies target the same pathways. So say the founders of two cancer-focused biotech start-ups that got their footing last year. Case in point: of the six approved chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T therapies, four target the same molecule (CD-19), and the other two target another blood-related antigen (BCMA). But now Cartography Biosciences and Nested Therapeutics believe they have pathways to better targets. Both companies are delving into large databases of cancer mutations to find targets in proteins or pathways that have either escaped detection or have been ignored because they are present at too low a frequency. Each company has a distinct strategy to reach their goal of finding these diamonds in the rough. Cartography board member Jorge Conde, a principal at Andreessen Horowitz, which was an early investor in the company, says, “We have a lot of really great tools in terms of therapeutics; what we have shortage of is novel targets against which we can direct those tools.”