Science & Pipeline
Problem to Solution.
A better chemotherapy backbone starts with better pharmacology.
Multi-agent chemotherapy remains foundational to cancer care. But separate, freely circulating chemotherapies damage healthy tissues, follow different pharmacologic timelines, and complicate administration. DUO rebuilds multi-drug regimens into single infusion combinations shielded by a tumor-metabolized conjugate.
Activity is valuable. Uncontrolled exposure is not.
Conventional regimens administer active drugs independently. Each reaches blood, healthy tissue, and tumor on its own schedule—creating a narrow balance between antitumor activity and tolerability.
Duo’s conjugate is a branched polymer with shielding oligo(ethylene glycol) groups and metabolizable linkers that keeps active agents stably sequestered during circulation. The conjugate’s ultrasmall size and near neutral charge allow it to easily move out of the blood vessels and maneuver through tumor tissue.
Duo’s conjugate (right) shows greater tumor accumulation vs systemic exposure than traditional nanoparticles (left).
Protected in circulation. Metabolized inside tumors.
A trio of sensitive bonds within our conjugate respond to the tumor environment. Any one of three established tumor-associated conditions can trigger particle dissolution and release of the active payload, a potent drug combination, at the target site. Having three different release triggers ensures consistent function as the conditions within a tumor change or as our therapies are administered to diverse patients.
Duo’s conjugates (in red; top) penetrate deep into the core of tumors where acidity, enzymes or antioxidants can catalyze the release of active drug.
A better chemotherapy backbone starts with DUO-207.
DUO-207 is the first application of this platform, rebuilding gemcitabine plus paclitaxel as a single, tumor-activated conjugate designed for the precision-medicine era.