PDX Pharmaceuticals

PDX Pharmaceuticals, operating as Raksa Therapeutics, is a biopharmaceutical firm focused on developing cancer treatments by integrating nanotechnology with cancer systems biology. The company was established in 2010 as a spin-off from the Biomedical Engineering Department at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Its founder and CEO, Dr. Wassana Yantasee, holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and an MBA. Her extensive background in nanomedicine and drug delivery, including a tenure as a scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and her current role as a tenured professor at OHSU, forms the scientific foundation of the company.

The company's business model is centered on advancing its proprietary drug candidates through preclinical and clinical trials to address unmet needs in oncology. Funding is primarily secured through grants from institutions like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI), complemented by private investments, such as Series A funding from the Kuni Foundation. PDX Pharmaceuticals collaborates closely with OHSU's Knight Cancer Institute, leveraging expertise in combination therapies and precision medicine.

The core of its operations is the Pdx-NP™ platform, a proprietary silica-based nanotechnology designed for the co-delivery of multiple therapeutic agents like siRNA, drugs, vaccines, and immunotherapies. This platform enables the development of therapies that can overcome resistance to existing treatments and stimulate a cancer-specific immune response. A key feature of the technology is its ability to load multiple types of cargo simultaneously and deliver them directly to solid tumors. Its lead drug candidates include AIRISE™, an intratumoral nano-immunotherapy, and ARAC™, a systemic nano-immunotherapy. These therapies are designed to work by using a patient's own tumor to create a targeted immune response, which can then attack cancer cells throughout the body, including metastatic ones. For example, AIRISE-02 combines an immunostimulant (CpG) with siRNA to target STAT3, a protein involved in cancer progression and immune suppression.

Keywords: biopharmaceutical, nanotechnology, cancer therapeutics, immunotherapy, drug delivery, siRNA, OHSU, oncology, nanomedicine, precision medicine, clinical trials, solid tumors, Pdx-NP platform, Wassana Yantasee, Knight Cancer Institute, AIRISE, ARAC, STAT3, combination therapies, nano-immunotherapy