Our Approach

Target

4 cancer defenses – and a single focus

Vigeo is focusing on tumors that are largely refractory to approved therapies. Our approach to drug development and treatment is based on targeting both the tumor and the genetically normal cells that comprise the microenvironment, which are less likely to develop mutation-based resistance. Therefore, we believe Vigeo’s therapies can have a significant impact on cancers where other types of therapy have been unsuccessful.

Vigeo is the first, and only, company developing therapies designed to stimulate Tsp-1 expression by replicating the biological activity of prosaposin (PSAP). By triggering the production of TSP-1 and downstream activities via CD36 and CD47, we are reprogramming the tumor microenvironment from one that is immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting, to one that activates the immune system and is tumor-inhibiting.

The anti-tumor activity of Tsp-1 is comprised of four independent mechanisms:

  1. Directly killing tumor cells that express the CD36 receptor
  2. Reprogramming macrophages to mount an immune response
  3. Stimulating the infiltration of T cells
  4. Inhibiting angiogenesis, the growth of blood vessels that feed tumors
Cold to Hot Tumor Infographic

Vigeo is developing novel biologics to reprogram normal cells recruited and coopted by the tumor, so they once again do the job they were designed to do: inhibit the growth of tumors. We believe this strategy can generate therapies that are both more effective and safer, by avoiding the harmful side effects caused by most oncology drugs in use today. This innovative approach has the potential to treat multiple indications of solid tumors.