companiesCompany
FinalDose
Y Combinator Spring 2026 start-up building a programmable DNA-targeting drug: a molecule that recognises a cancer-specific DNA sequence inside a cell and triggers a kill switch only there.
Founded by three Oxford PhDs (Jeff Liu, Li-Yao Huang, Steven Lin). The pitch: swap the guide sequence and the same drug becomes a new drug, unlocking 'undruggable' drivers such as MYC, TP53, and APC at the DNA level and, the company claims, 80% of cancers that protein-targeted drugs cannot reach. Preclinical and pre-revenue, with no published data or trials by September 2026. Listed here as the clearest example of the sequence-programmable therapeutic concept.