Invasight

Invasight AG is a Swiss-based, pre-clinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing targeted therapies for invasive cancers. Founded in 2019 by Karthiga Santhana Kumar and Sam Fulcher, the company emerged from eight years of dedicated research at the University of Zürich and the University Children's Hospital, Zürich. Co-founder and CEO Karthiga Santhana Kumar translated her doctoral and postdoctoral work in neuro-oncology into the company's core technology. Her extensive background, which includes a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich and an MBA from EPFL, underpins the company's scientific and strategic direction. Co-founder Sam Fulcher also contributes to the company's development and strategy.

The company's core asset is its proprietary drug discovery platform, ACINDA® (Automated Cell Dissemination Counter). This technology is engineered to identify and design specific protein-protein interaction antagonists (PPIAs) that target the intracellular mechanisms causing cancer cell invasion. The ACINDA platform integrates patented 3D tumoroid plates, specialized cancer cell invasion models, and machine learning-based software to quantify cancer cell invasion with single-cell resolution. This system is designed to accelerate the 'hit to lead' phase of drug development by 50% and increase the accuracy of quantifying cell invasion by 35% compared to other available platforms. By closely mimicking the tumor microenvironment, ACINDA aims to identify drug targets with a higher probability of success in clinical trials and a lower likelihood of adverse side effects.

Invasight's business model centers on the development and eventual commercialization of a pipeline of first-in-class cancer therapies. Its most advanced candidate, F2i, is a small molecule inhibitor of pro-invasive FGF signaling. This compound is in the pre-clinical validation stage and has demonstrated efficacy in gastric, ovarian, and colorectal cancer models. The company operates in the global metastatic cancer treatment market, which was projected to reach USD 98.24 billion by 2025. Invasight has successfully secured funding to advance its research, closing an oversubscribed CHF 4.5 million seed round in June 2022. The round was led by OCCIDENT and JFG Life Sciences Foundation, with participation from several other venture capital firms and angel investors.

Keywords: oncology, cancer therapy, drug discovery, biotechnology, pre-clinical, protein-protein interaction, invasive cancers, ACINDA platform, 3D tumoroid models, machine learning in drug discovery, small molecule inhibitors, FGF signalling, F2i, metastatic cancer, biopharmaceutical, cancer research, targeted therapy, cell invasion, neuro-oncology, life sciences, Swiss biotech