Dracen Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a novel drug to treat tumors, last week secured $2.3 million in debt. The Johns Hopkins spinoff has so far raised over $50 million, with most of it coming from a $40 million Series A round in 2018. Its backers include i&i Prague, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based Osage University Partners and Illinois-based Deerfield Management.
The startup was co-founded by the Johns Hopkins University trio of professors Barbara Slusher, Jonathan Powell and Rana Rais, together with Pavel Majer of Prague’s Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, to develop novel glutamine antagonists to treat cancers, as well as autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. It was initially headquartered in New York before relocating to San Diego, Calif.
Partnering with Merck
Dracen has received FDA’s fast track designation for sirpiglenastat, its drug candidate for the treatment of some advanced, previously treated non-small cell lung cancer. In 2021, it forged a deal with Merck for clinical trials to evaluate the safety and efficacy of sirpiglenastat (DRP-104), when used in in combination with Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab), designed to treat solid tumors.
“Our novel glutamine antagonist sirpiglenastat has demonstrated potent single agent activity and synergy in combination with checkpoint inhibitors in both genetically modified and patient derived xenograft mouse models,” Margaret Dugan, Dracen’s chief medical officer, said, when the company announced the deal with Merck.
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Dracen plans to develop its glutamine antagonists both in single agent settings, as well as in combination with a type of immunotherapy called immune checkpoint inhibitors. The combination therapies aim to increase the number of responders to anti-cancer therapy and extend survival, and potentially, provide anti-tumor responses in areas that evade immuno-oncology approaches.
Veteran at Helm
Drug industry veteran Thomas Estok serves as Dracen’s CEO. He previously co-founded and ran Tragara Pharmaceuticals and Cabrellis Pharmaceuticals. Prior to his entrepreneurial stints, Estok spent 19 years at Schering-Plough, where he held a number of positions including overseeing oncology R&D. Estok graduated from Virginia Tech with a BS degree in Biochemistry and was awarded an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Dracen’s board includes Drew Pardoll, Abeloff professor of oncology, medicine, pathology and molecular biology at Johns Hopkins. Pardoll is also director of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at Johns Hopkins.
