OncoVerity: Fighting Cancer with Data and Wisdom
What the Company Does
OncoVerity is a cutting-edge biotech company using a computational biology platform to better the lives of patients battling cancer. OncoVerity is addressing a fundamental challenge in cancer treatment—the diverse nature of cancer cells—by using single-cell analysis technology and machine learning to advance transformative cancer therapies.
Current Landscape
OncoVerity is starting in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), which is one of the most heterogeneous and lethal cancers. The cancer treatment that OncoVerity is developing is cusatuzumab, a groundbreaking cancer therapy designed to target CD70, a protein found on many cancer cells, including leukemia cells. Through its pioneering precision medicine approach, OncoVerity has identified how most patients treated for AML can benefit from adding cusatuzumab to treatment.
AML, the most common leukemia among adults, accounts for about 80 percent of all cases. Despite medical advances, there is a significant lack of effective therapies with patients having an overall survival of 15 months. A five-year survival rate is the lowest of blood malignancies (5-20 percent) and relapse is common.
More than 1,000 companies are working to apply single cell analysis technology to drug discovery and development across disease states. OncoVerity is at the forefront in applying this approach to cancer.
Company Birth Story
OncoVerity, a company nestled within the Fitzsimons Innovation Community, brings together a passionate team from medicine, academia, and industry. Their strategic location, just across from the esteemed University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, grants them access to a wealth of resources. This includes patient data, samples, expertise of biostatisticians and data scientists, and cutting-edge knowledge from the campus itself.
The story of OncoVerity begins with a small team at the University of Colorado. They embarked on a collaborative effort with argenx, a global leader in biotechnology. Their shared vision was to leverage Colorado’s precision medicine platform and unlock the potential of cusatuzumab for AML patients. This fruitful collaboration ultimately gave rise to OncoVerity, a company dedicated to advancing cancer care by applying computational tools to clinical and biological data.
Since then, OncoVerity has blossomed into a full-fledged Phase 2 biotech company This growth has been fueled by a collaborative and entrepreneurial life sciences ecosystem. The company has also recruited a seasoned leadership team, each member an expert in their respective field. At the helm is CEO Max Colao, who understands the fight against cancer all too well. For the past eight years, his 23-year-old son Jacob has battled a very rare form of sarcoma called Gastrointestinal Neuroectodermal Tumor. Colao’s personal experience drives his dedication to developing innovative treatments and improving the lives of cancer patients and their families.
Solution
In addition to the unique characteristics of cusatuzumab, OncoVerity leverages the most robust and well curated AML real world patient database to assess patients who are most likely to benefit. These insights allow OncoVerity to design and run efficient, de-risked clinical studies with the ability to get to ahead of competitors.
OncoVerity has launched a randomized controlled trial to test cusatuzumab for these AML patients. The trial will evaluate cusatuzumab’s ability to improve survival. If the trial is successful, cusatuzumab could offer a new treatment option for patients with AML who have limited options today. Beyond AML, OncoVerity envisions developing cusatuzumab and other therapies for high-risk patients that have limited treatment options.
Founder Quote
“Just like every person is different, every cancer is different, and every cell within a cancer is different. OncoVerity is using single-cell analysis technology and machine learning to decode differences.”
Max Colao, CEO, OncoVerity
Learn More
Website: OncoVerity