Businessweek

Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing small molecule drugs to extend and enhance the lives of patients with severe medical conditions, including cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases. Oncology Programs The company has two clinical-stage programs and one preclinical-stage program in oncology: Ganetespib, Hsp90 inhibitor: Ganetespib is a potent, synthetic, small molecule inhibitor of Hsp90, a chaperone protein that is essential to the function of certain other proteins. Ganetespib is being evaluated in a range of clinical trials both as a single agent and in combination with other therapies. In 2011, the company initiated a randomized, Phase 2b/3 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) clinical trial in combination with docetaxel. Elesclomol, mitochondria-targeting agent: Elesclomol is a first-in-class, investigational drug candidate that triggers programmed cell death (apoptosis), in cancer cells by disrupting cancer cell mitochondrial metabolism. Elesclomol is in a clinical trial in ovarian cancer in combination with paclitaxel and a clinical trial in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as a single agent. STA-9584, vascular disrupting agent: STA-9584, which is in preclinical development stage, is the company’s injectable, small molecule compound that appears to disrupt the blood vessels that supply tumors with oxygen and essential nutrients. Inflammatory Disease Programs The company has two preclinical-stage programs focusing on treatments for inflammatory diseases. Both of these programs focus on oral, disease-modifying drug candidates that act through novel mechanisms and could potentially target multiple indications. Strategy The company’s strategy is to discover, develop, and commercialize small molecule drug candidates for treating severe medical conditions, including cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases, using its collection of assets, technologies, and capabilities in drug discovery and development. Main elements of its strategy include exploiting the first-in-class / best-in-class potential of existing drug candidates to establish and achieve sustainable advantages relative to other therapeutic options; using translational research and biomarker identification capabilities, together with collaborations with researchers and investigators; maintaining the flexibility to partner or retain individual programs, globally or regionally, to achieve creative and favorable partnership structures; using discovery and development capabilities to expand and protect intellectual property position for each of its programs; and using proprietary compound library and discovery platform to continue to generate promising new drug candidates with distinct chemical structures, novel mechanisms of action, and broad therapeutic potential. Patents and Proprietary Rights As of February 21, 2012, the company’s patent portfolio had a total of 784 patents and patent applications worldwide, including specific patent filings with claims to the composition-of-matter and methods of use of ganetespib and elesclomol. It owns or has exclusively licensed a total of 76 issued U.S. patents and 131 U.S. patent applications, as well as 589 foreign counterparts to these patents and patent applications. With respect to Hsp90 inhibitor program, the company has 18 issued U.S. and foreign patents, and 144 pending U.S. and foreign counterpart patent applications. Hsp90 inhibitor patent portfolio covers ganetespib and structurally related analogs, pharmaceutical compositions, and methods for treating cancer. With respect to elesclomol, the company has 2 issued U.S. patents that claim the chemical structure of elesclomol that expire no earlier than 2022. Both of these issued U.S. patents also claim related chemical structures, pharmaceutical compositions, and methods for treating a subject with cancer. In addition, the company has an issued U.S. patent claiming the salt form of elesclomol that expires no earlier than 2025. The company has pending U.S. patent applications covering compositions-of-matter, methods of treatment and other aspects of its programs for STA-9584, IL-12/23 inhibitors, and CRACM ion channel inhibitors. Counterpart filings to these patents and patent applications have been made in other jurisdictions, including Europe and Japan. The company has a license agreement with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Beth Israel) that provides with the commercial right to certain patent filings made by Beth Israel in the field of ion channels. It also has a non-exclusive license to a U.S. patent assigned to Columbia University that could potentially cover a possible aspect of the elesclomol mechanism. Regulations United States Government Regulation: The company’s drugs must be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through the new drug application (NDA) process before they may be legally marketed in the United States. History Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. was incorporated in 2000.