RALEIGH – Flag Therapeutics Inc., an oncology company, has closed on a $1.3 million equity raise, according to a regulatory filing.
The company previously raised $500,000 in 2016. It also was awarded $1.5 million 2 year SBIR grant to study Purine Synthesis Inhibitors for the treatment of Mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an often fatal cancer of the lungs connected to exposure to asbestos.
FLAG’s Purine Synthesis Inhibitors (PSI) are novel compounds designed to enter cells only via receptor sites that are over-expressed on cancer cells leaving normal cells intact.
In 2014, the company was awarded a $50,000 company inception grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
FLAG Therapeutics is also developing a first-in-class, dual-acting small molecule for the treatment of the deadly brain cancer Glioblastoma, which killed Senators Ted Kennedy and John McCain.
Its lead product, FLAG-003 is a water-soluble hybrid-scaffold designed to target cancer cells. With a unique dual-mechanism of action, FLAG-003 is small enough to pass the blood-brain barrier and is engineered to simultaneously block the formation of new blood vessels and kill cancer cells, the company says.
