Kembi Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the first plasticity-targeting therapies to prevent and reverse treatment resistance in aggressive cancers.
Kembi Therapeutics was founded on a single, powerful idea: that targeting cancer cell plasticity could change the way we treat cancer.
For decades, cancer therapy has focused on destroying tumour cells. But cancer cells are extraordinarily good at adapting, switching between cellular states to evade treatment. This process, known as cancer cell plasticity, is one of the central drivers of therapy resistance, and until recently it had no validated therapeutic target. Some therapies inadvertently promote cancer cell adaptation and the development of resistance.
Kembi was founded to change that. Built on two decades of pioneering research, we are focused on bringing plasticity-targeting therapies from the laboratory into the clinic. Our ultimate goal is stopping or reversing cancers from becoming resistant to treatment.
Kemb is one of the oldest root words in the English language, meaning to change. We chose it deliberately. Cancer plasticity is the story of cells changing state to evade treatment. Kembi exists to stop or reverse that change.
Our Mission
Our mission is to improve patient survival by stopping or reversing resistance to therapies, like chemotherapy. We do this through plasticity-targeting therapies that block the cellular processes that allow cancers to adapt and evade treatment.
Kembi Therapeutics
Some cancer cells are plastic and can change in response to treatment, becoming resistant to chemotherapy. This ability to change and adapt is one of the main reasons some cancers are so hard to treat. Kembi's approach is designed to prevent that transformation. By stopping cancer cells from changing or reversing changes that have already occurred, we aim to keep treatment working for longer (or enable treatment to work again) and to improve outcomes for patients.
Our lead compound KMB-464 (seviteronel) is already being studied in humans (NCT04947189). The 4CAST clinical trial is putting our plasticity-targeted approach to the test in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancers. It is the first clinical trial of its kind, and includes a companion biomarker test to identify the patients most likely to benefit.
Hear about the science behind stopping plasticity to prevent resistance.
Go deeper into the biology and meet the team behind it.
Kembi Therapeutics acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work and pay our respects to Elders past and present.