A Manhattan biotech firm says it has raised $48 million from venture capitalists to develop drugs that unleash the immune system against cancer. QuentisThe firm, Quentis Therapeutics, says that the money will fund clinical trials for its new medicine, a small molecule IRE1α inhibitor, to begin next year. The idea is that harsh conditions within tumors inhibit the immune system from attacking the cancer. In Quentis' launch press release, Cubillos-Ruiz says that aberrant stress response in the endoplasmic reticulum leads to dysfunctional immune cells. The chief executive of Quentis is Michael Aberman, a former senior vice president at Tarrytown, N.Y.'s Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Source: Forbes February 27, 2018 12:22 UTC