Volastra Therapeutics

Volastra Therapeutics, founded in 2019 by Samuel Bakhoum, Lewis Cantley and Olivier Elemento, develops medicines that target chromosomal instability (CIN), the high rate of chromosome segregation errors in many cancers. It has two oral small-molecule KIF18A inhibitors in the clinic: VLS-1488, in a phase 1/2 trial in advanced solid tumours with high CIN (NCT05902988), and sovilnesib (formerly AMG 650), in-licensed from Amgen in February 2023, in a phase 1b trial in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (NCT06084416). The company reports FDA Fast Track designation for both in platinum-resistant high-grade serous ovarian cancer. At AACR 2026 it presented data proposing p16 expression as a candidate predictive biomarker for KIF18A inhibition. Its CINtech platform combines laboratory screening and computational analysis to find CIN-specific targets and biomarkers; two further programmes are undisclosed. The company names Eli Lilly and Company, B Capital, ARCH Venture Partners, Polaris Partners, Droia Ventures, Vida Ventures and Catalio Capital Management as funders.