Janpix

About Janpix

Janpix Limited was a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for various forms of cancer. Founded in 2015, the company operated from Cambridge, Massachusetts, with research facilities at the University of Toronto Mississauga. The company was co-founded by Professor Patrick Gunning, a Canada Research Chair in Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Toronto, whose lab's work on producing cancer-killing drugs formed the basis of the company's technology. Roman Fleck, a scientist and venture capitalist, served as the CEO.

The company's core business was the discovery and development of selective small molecule inhibitors and degraders of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT) proteins. Aberrant activation of STAT proteins, particularly STAT3 and STAT5, is linked to tumor cell proliferation, survival, and drug resistance in a number of solid and hematological cancers. Janpix aimed to address this by creating highly potent and selective STAT inhibitors, a molecular target that had been notoriously difficult to inhibit with small molecules. Their lead molecules were designed as monovalent degraders targeting both STAT3 and STAT5, with the potential to treat cancers like leukemia, lymphoma, medulloblastoma, and breast cancer.

Janpix's business model was centered on advancing its preclinical programs into clinical trials. The company's operations were financed through venture capital. It launched in 2017 with a $22 million Series A investment from Medicxi. This was followed by a $10 million Series B round in October 2020, also led by Medicxi, to advance its first candidate into the clinic. In January 2021, Janpix was acquired by Centessa Pharmaceuticals as part of a merger involving ten biotech companies. However, in March 2022, Centessa announced the discontinuation of the dual-STAT3/5 degrader program inherited from Janpix and began winding down its operations.