# Sunesis Pharmaceuticals

Source: https://onco.cc/companies/sunesis/  
OnCo record `sunesis` (Company). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Sunesis developed vosaroxin, a quinolone-derived cytotoxic that narrowly missed its survival endpoint in the phase 3 VALOR trial in relapsed acute myeloid leukaemia; the company later merged into Viracta.

## Summary

Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, founded in 1998 in South San Francisco, took vosaroxin, a first-in-class anticancer quinolone that intercalates DNA and inhibits topoisomerase II, into the phase 3 VALOR trial with cytarabine in relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia; the trial narrowly failed its primary survival endpoint in 2014 and regulators declined approval. Sunesis merged with Viracta Therapeutics in 2021. Its trials remain on ClinicalTrials.gov under Sunesis as lead sponsor.

## Fields

- Kind: Company
- Last checked: 2026-09-11
- Also known as: Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Viracta Therapeutics
- Tags: ctgov-sponsor
- HQ: South San Francisco, CA
- Type: biotech
- Website: http://www.sunesis.com

## Sources

- Official website: http://www.sunesis.com
- ClinicalTrials.gov: trials led by Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: https://clinicaltrials.gov/search?lead=Sunesis%20Pharmaceuticals%2C%20Inc.
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7639948

## Connected records

- cancers: [Acute myeloid leukaemia](https://onco.cc/cancers/aml/)
- terms: [Clinical trial](https://onco.cc/terms/clinical-trial/), [Pivotal (registrational) trial](https://onco.cc/terms/pivotal-trial/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/sunesis.json