Oriinally dba Aspyrian Therapeutics, Inc., in 2018 the firm was renamed as Rakuten Aspyrian, Inc.. This is a clinical stage biotechn developing a new class of precision targeted oncologic drugs for the treatment of solid tumors based on a new proprietary cancer targeted platform, Photoimmunotherapy. The Company's first product, RM-1929, is in clinical Phase 2 testing to treat recurrent Head and Neck Cancer patients. The firm has secured the exclusive license from the National Cancer Institute for Near-infrared Photoimmunotherapy (PIT), an antibody conjugate system that allows highly specific cancer cell killing. Tumor specific action serves to avoid damage to healthy organs for enhanced anticancer activity and increased safety. PIT induces rapid cell killing by localized disruption of the cell membrane only after antibody binding to the surface of cells and tumor-localized activation of dye using non-ionizing NIR light. Any unbound Ab/IR700 conjugates or unused dye does not result in phototoxicity upon NIR irradiation. The combination of selective binding to surface antigens and localized NIR activation permits highly efficacious disease-specific ablation while preserving organ function.
