Domain’s Top Three Takeaways from ASCO 2015

If you followed the news coming out of ASCO 2015, the large oncology meeting held recently in Chicago, you will have recognized many of the themes that drive Domain's investments.  Here we summarize the top three themes and feature Domain portfolio companies working to turn cancer into a managed disease.

​1. Immunotherapies

Many news reports focused on advances in the use of immunotherapies to fight disease, an approach we saw as promising when we made our initial investments in companies pursuing this avenue such as Five Prime Therapeutics and Syndax Pharmaceuticals. Earlier this year, Syndax signed a collaboration with pharma giant Merck to combine its compound entinostat with an anti-PD-1 inhibitor in a clinical trial for immunotherapy of skin and lung cancer.

2. Genetic Biomarkers

Another approach we have championed is the use of molecular diagnostics to accurately personalize and treat cancer.  The correlation between tumor heterogeneity and therapeutic resistance is becoming obvious now that new technologies, such as Epic Science’s no cell left behind(TM) platform, can track cancers as they evolve and mutate. Many cancers are composed of different types of cells, which harbor different driver mutations. In order to effectively manage cancer, doctors must know which are the most dangerous cells and which drugs best target a patient’s specific cancer. During this year’s ASCO, Epic Sciences presented data demonstrating the utility of its liquid biopsy platform in distinguishing among these cells based on single cell genomic analysis.  

3. Targeted Therapeutics

The development and demonstration of efficacy for targeted therapeutics continues to dominate progress in oncology. During ASCO 2015, Clovis Oncology announced positive results of a Phase 2 study of rociletnib which targets epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) for the treatment of lung cancer, and Dicerna Pharmaceuticals presented data showing efficacy of its therapy DCR-MYC, which targets the MYC oncogene in several types of solid tumors.

It is gratifying to see how closely our oncology investments align with the key themes emerging from the ASCO meeting. Our strategy encompasses much more than oncology, with infectious diseases such as hepatitis C, cardiovascular disease, and central nervous system disorders among additional areas in which we are funding promising, innovative approaches.