The Next Cancer Drug Might Start in Outer Space

25 July 2018

Angiex’s Groundbreaking Cancer Research Highlighted in BusinessWeek

Angiex was featured in BusinessWeek as one of the few biotech companies exploring space as a new frontier for pharmaceutical research. CSO and co-founder Shou-Ching Jaminet explained the company’s pioneering approach in a story focused on the potential of conducting research in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS).

Angiex’s cancer therapy aims to cut off blood supply to tumors, and the ISS project allows the team to study endothelial cells in a unique near-zero-gravity setting. “If the changes we are seeing in cells in culture also occur in the cells of astronauts’ bodies, then it seems likely that tumor growth will slow down under microgravity,” Jaminet explained.

Three days after Jaminet’s experiment launched, the SpaceX craft docked with the ISS. She’s been in contact with the doctor-astronaut who’s handling her experiment, Serena Auñón-Chancellor, ever since. The results so far, Jaminet says, are encouraging. Back on Earth, she’s running a “ground control” experiment to compare how cells react in a normal-gravity environment with how they behave in microgravity. So far, her hypothesis is panning out: The endothelial cells are growing more slowly in space.

The article highlights how Angiex, along with other innovators, leverages the ISS for valuable insights that are impossible to replicate on Earth. With support from NASA and SpaceX, this initiative demonstrates Angiex’s commitment to advancing cancer research through unique methodologies and cutting-edge science.


About Angiex

Angiex Inc. is a privately held biotech startup whose mission is to exploit newly discovered biological transport mechanisms to make drugs with revolutionary power over cancer. Based in Cambridge, Mass., Angiex was founded by a scientific team of leading experts in angiogenesis, vascular biology, and oncology. The company is developing a novel portfolio of Nuclear-Delivered Antibody-Drug Conjugates™ (ND-ADCs) that release therapeutic payloads directly into the nucleus or cytosol, where the site of payload action is located. This direct delivery holds the promise of enhancing the efficacy and therapeutic margin of conventional ADCs. The lead product, AGX101, has advanced through pre-clinical development and is about to begin Phase 1 clinical trials. To learn more about Angiex...