Currently resident in JLabs San Diego, Palm Therapeutics is structured around development of therapeutics to treat cancer. Principals of the firm are tackling advancement of the firm's proprietary technology: small molecule depalmitoylating drugs (DPALMs). To date they have developed DPALM-based inhibitors for HRas and NRas, oncogenic targets which can be used to cleave palmitoyl groups from target proteins to inhibit their function. NRas-mutant melanoma is the most aggressive form of melanoma and occurs in 20% of all melanoma patients. Currently few treatment options exist for advanced forms of this disease. Current therapies can modestly extend life expectancy, but the 5-year survival rate of distant metastatic melanoma patients remains low (22.5%). The continuing rise in melanoma rates and the poor prognosis for advanced melanoma make it critical the need to develop novel treatments for the deadliest form of skin cancer. Unfortunately, the lack of hydrophobic binding pockets on the surface of NRas has hindered the development of traditional small molecule inhibitors, and as such, there are no clinically approved NRas-targeted therapies on the market.The company's drug molecule is targeted for use in treatment of HNSCC, AML, and bladder cancer.
