Kuda Therapeutics is a pre-clinical drug development company focused on novel therapies to target kidney cancer. The company’s mission is to translate innovative science into transformative cancer medicine. The company led by co-founder and CEO, Dr. Mei Yee Koh, and co-founder and CFO, Mr. Travis Ehlinger, identified a molecule that specifically blocks HIF production and induces tumor cell death through ferroptosis.
Kuda Therapeutics received $2,300,000 in Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I and Phase II awards from the National Cancer Institute and $560,000 from the Department of Defense Kidney Cancer Research Program (2020-2023). The company worked with the Utah Innovation Center for all three winning proposals. Kuda Therapeutics’ recent SBIR Phase II-funded studies will advance the commercial development of this molecule as a new medicine for treating kidney cancer.
Dr. Koh attributes SBIR funding to the reason the company exists, allowing Kuda Therapeutics to take the next step in the drug discovery process. The future trajectory for the company is to go to clinical trials and develop additional applications for a variety of tumor types associated with HIF-2α activation or lipid accumulation.
Learn more about Kuda Therapeutics here.
The Utah Innovation Center video project spotlighting Utah small businesses is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.