BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

HealthCare Ventures' Leap makes debut

January 22, 2016 2:09 AM UTC

HealthCare Ventures combined portfolio companies HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. and GITR Inc. into newco Leap Therapeutics Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.). Leap also disclosed clinical efficacy data for lead program DKN-01 to treat esophageal cancer.

Doug Onsi, a managing director at HealthCare Ventures who is Leap's CFO, said both predecessor companies were part of the firm's focused companies initiative, in which it aims to invest in late preclinical and early clinical-stage therapeutic opportunities that could be exited following POC. The newco will pursue "what we believe is a larger and more downstream opportunity," Onsi said, with multiple programs that target cell signaling and immuno-oncology. ...