We believe we have the technology to make drugs more effective than ever before.

Currently, drugs are developed with advanced knowledge about drug-disease interactions to the molecular level. Newer categories called precision medicines are often associated with receptor-ligand “lock and key” mechanisms of action. Despite advances in science and technology, all drugs including precision medicine solutions are administered in the same way as they were 70-plus years ago, yet they have a > 90% failure rate during development.

At Cytonus, we challenge the status quo because we find this failure rate to be unacceptable. We believe precision medicine solutions are only as good as how they’re designed and administered, and all future drug candidates that don’t account for the complexities of the human body won’t move the needle towards better outcomes.

To make next-generation drugs, a pragmatic shift is needed to make drug candidates that are both functional (efficacious) and safe simultaneously.

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What we’re doing:

Combining AI, synthetic biology and drug-delivery
to create safer, more effective therapeutics.

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Click the image above to read the article: “Targeted Drug Delivery: From Science Fiction to Reality”

Cytonus (pronounced “sigh-TOE-nuss”) comes from the terms “cyto” (cell) and “onus” (burden of responsibility). The name is appropriate, because our goal is for a pre-programmed cell called the Cargocyte™ to carry the demand for lifesaving medical treatments to benefit patients safely and effectively.

Most therapeutic approaches (small molecule drugs, large molecule drugs, cell and gene therapies, etc.) fail clinical trials due to very toxic side effects. Cytonus is responding by enabling technology to develop a class defining Synthetic Biology-delivery platform called the Cargocyte that utilizes the best-in-class AI tools for drug-discovery. Modified prior to their release, Cargocytes deliver and produce targeted payloads (biologic drugs) to specific problems in tissues and organs—including tumors, difficult to access organs like the brain, and fibrotic disease tissues to name a few. The unprecedented precision-delivery and localization of a biologic drug mitigates the systemic exposure and toxicity seen with all drugs.

Read more details of this process
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The Cargocyte

Three reasons why we’re unique from other biotech
companies:

  1. Our proprietary AI approach towards engineering the highest predictable successful therapeutic enables us to screen and test new therapeutics faster and more effectively than any other company.
  2. A Cargocyte is a functional cell-like synthetic entity without a nucleus. This enucleated synthetic cell improves safety (controllability) and enhances motility and migration to deliver disease-specific payloads within hours of intravenous administration. Once there, they manufacture therapeutic payloads (biologic drugs) at the site of the disease where they should be, rather than in parts of the body not needing treatment.
  3. Our AI driven precision delivery approach has Carocytes act locally while being administered intravenously. Cargocytes home to and embed at the site of the disease. Any drug is only as good as its ability to be delivered to the tissue its intended to treat.
Discover why Cytonus matters.

Why healthcare leaders support Cytonus:
Funding from 5 NIH grants and more!

At Cytonus, we value data above all, and this is reflected in our track record. We’re finding more want to join our effort to have an immediate impact on health through our vertical move in science. Our following recent successes include:

  • Five National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants within 18 months
  • One California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant
  • Publication of a peer-reviewed research paper in Nature Biomedical Engineering in December 2021. Read the article here.