Our Focus

Curtana Pharmaceuticals is developing highly targeted therapies for the treatment of brain cancer, including glioblastoma in adults and  medulloblastoma in children.

Patients typically are treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, current treatments offer little hope of significantly prolonging a patient’s life.

Curtana is advancing a novel small molecule therapy, CT-179, which has been shown to significantly prolong survival in relevant animal models. The target is Olig2, a cancer stem cell-associated transcription factor that is critical for tumor initiation and growth.

Curtana submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA and has received a Study May Proceed letter from the agency. The company was also granted Fast Track designation by the FDA. Curtana plans to initiate a Phase 1 clinical trial in patients with recurrent and newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) in the coming months.

At this time, Curtana does not offer an expanded access program, also known as compassionate use, and we do not accept expanded access requests. Curtana does not supply its investigational product outside of formal clinical trials designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of CT-179.

Our expanded access policy is based on our commitment to patient safety and our commitment to generating the clinical trial data required to adequately assess safety and efficacy as quickly as we can. We believe this approach will support eventual approval and widespread availability of our investigational product for the conditions we are studying.

CT-179

First-in-class, highly targeted, potent, small molecule inhibitor of Olig2 with excellent drug-like properties.

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Technology

  • Glioblastoma

    Glioblastoma is the most common and deadliest of the malignant primary brain tumors in adults.

  • Olig2

    Olig2 is a transcription factor that is critical for tumor initiation and growth.

  • Our Science

    Curtana’s solution is to add an Olig2 inhibitor to conventional therapy at the time of diagnosis.

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About Us

Curtana Pharmaceuticals was founded on a mission to develop the first truly targeted therapies for the treatment of the most aggressive types of brain cancers in adults and children. The company’s drug development program is based on the pioneering research of Dr. Santosh Kesari, who is currently the Chairman of the Department of Translational Neuro-oncology and Neuro-therapeutics at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, CA.

Curtana’s senior leadership brings years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, with extensive backgrounds in the development of new molecular entities for the treatment of cancer as well as CNS disorders.

Curtana initiated operations in San Diego, California in 2013. Following the award of a highly prestigious and competitive grant ($7.6M) from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) in August 2014, the company relocated its lab and offices to Austin, Texas. Current investors include Thynk Capital, angelMD, Biosense Global, DEFTA Partners, and other anonymous investors.