{"entity":{"id":"mondego-bio","kind":"company","name":"Mondego Bio","aka":["Mondego"],"tldr":"Mondego Bio, in Portugal, is developing a tablet-type drug that blocks PTPN2, a protein that dampens the immune system's response to cancer, with the aim of making immunotherapy work better. It planned its first human study for 2026.","summary":"Mondego Bio is based at the Biocant park in Cantanhede, Portugal, and develops small-molecule inhibitors of PTPN2 (protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2), a negative regulator of JAK-STAT signalling through cytokine receptors including the interferon-gamma receptor. The company says its candidate inhibits PTPN2 and PTPN1, is orally bioavailable and increases tumour cells' susceptibility to interferon-gamma in preclinical work. In December 2025 it selected ZE00-0388, which it describes as an AI-designed selective PTPN2 inhibitor, as its clinical candidate and said it planned a phase 1 study in the first half of 2026 with a healthy-volunteer part and solid-tumour cohorts alone and with checkpoint inhibitors. The lead programmes come from research at Eilean Therapeutics, co-founded by OrbiMed and Torrey Pines, and the company was incubated through Expert Systems' discovery platform with Eilean and Molsoft. Its Series A was announced in September 2025, led by Biovance Capital with OrbiMed and Torrey Pines Investment; no amount was stated.","asOf":"2026-11-04","links":[{"label":"Official website","url":"https://www.mondegobio.com/"},{"label":"Series A release (September 2025)","url":"https://www.mondegobio.com/2025/09/18/biovance-capital-leads-series-a-financing-in-mondego-bio-together-with-orbimed-and-torrey-pines/"},{"label":"Clinical candidate release (December 2025)","url":"https://www.mondegobio.com/2025/12/22/mondego-bio-announces-selection-of-a-ptpn2-inhibitor-clinical-candidate-and-targets-first-in-human-trials-in-h1-2026/"},{"label":"OrbiMed portfolio entry","url":"https://www.orbimed.com/portfolio/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":["immunotherapy","targeted-therapy"],"technologies":["ai-drug-design"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["Founding year not stated; the September 2025 release calls it a new Portuguese startup.","No ClinicalTrials.gov record for ZE00-0388 or Mondego was found when the registry was searched in November 2026, so no product record is proposed.","OnCo has no PTPN2 target record, so targets are empty."],"hq":"Cantanhede","country":"PT","companyType":"biotech","website":"https://www.mondegobio.com/","stage":"startup","investors":["orbimed"],"funding":[{"round":"Series A","year":2025,"source":"https://www.mondegobio.com/2025/09/18/biovance-capital-leads-series-a-financing-in-mondego-bio-together-with-orbimed-and-torrey-pines/","note":"Led by Biovance Capital with OrbiMed and Torrey Pines Investment; amount not stated."}]},"route":"/companies/mondego-bio/","neighbours":{"section":[{"id":"immunotherapy","kind":"section","name":"Immunotherapy","route":"/fronts/immunotherapy/"},{"id":"targeted-therapy","kind":"section","name":"Targeted Therapy","route":"/fronts/targeted-therapy/"}],"technology":[{"id":"ai-drug-design","kind":"technology","name":"AI-driven drug & target discovery","route":"/technologies/ai-drug-design/"}],"company":[{"id":"orbimed","kind":"company","name":"OrbiMed","route":"/companies/orbimed/"}]}}