Snowdon Inc.

Therapeutic Area: Cancer

Cancer is predicted to become the leading cause of death, surpassing heart disease by the end of this decade. Despite significant progress in our understanding of the molecular defects that contribute to the development of cancer, progress in the development of novel anti-cancer drugs has remained relatively slow. Clearly there exists an urgent need to develop novel anticancer therapies that are both safe and effective. As drug discovery and development is a slow and costly process, computational approaches have become fast, reliable and inexpensive tools for prediction of bioactivity and other physicochemical properties that may ultimately influence the success of a molecule in the clinic. Guided by this strategy, Snowdon deploys its E-Prospector platform technology to accelerate and streamline the discovery of targeted anticancer therapies.

Snowdon is developing novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of colorectal cancer and melanoma. Colorectal cancer, a malignant neoplasm of the large intestine, is the third most common cancer in the United States. Similarly, metastatic melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 130,000 cases of colorectal cancer and metastatic melanoma are diagnosed every year in the United States. Colorectal cancer and melanoma are also major health concerns worldwide, with more than 1,000,000 new cases and 500,000 deaths expected per year. These statistics reflect the fact that colorectal cancer and melanoma are refractory to treatment in at least 50% of the cases. Surgery to remove the tumor remains the treatment of choice, usually followed by chemotherapy to treat the remaining cancer cells in the body. However, the prognosis for survival of colorectal cancer and metastatic melanoma remains poor.

Snowdon's anticancer drug candidates are unique, small-molecule inhibitors of key steps in the propagation and proliferation of cancer cells in humans. Consequently, these drug prospects represent a novel family of targeted anticancer therapies. Compounds such as SND-30 and SND-119 are simple molecules that are easy to synthesize in the chemical laboratory, are known to be very safe in animal models, and are effective even at low doses. Moreover, these molecules have demonstrated their ability to be administered orally thus promoting ease of use and convenience for the patient.

Therapeutic Areas: Cancer | Acute and Chronic Pain | Neurological Disorders| Infectious Diseases