Kereos: Seek AND destroy

While most companies are satisfied with pursuing compounds that either diagnose or treat an ailment, Kereos has set out to accomplish both, using pairs of targeted imaging and therapeutic agents. With help from corporate and academic partners, the company is making its way toward the clinic with candidates to detect and treat cancer and cardiovascular disease.

According to President and CEO Robert Beardsley, Kereos' compounds are all ligand-targeted emulsions, where the formulation consists of phospholipid-coated perfluorocarbon droplets emulsified in water. This lipophilic membrane provides both stability and anchoring sites for the targeted ligands and payload molecules, the latter of which are either imaging or therapeutic agents...