The company TEMA Therapeutics develops the molecule GG-1815, a compound that blocks the energy metabolism of cancer cells without affecting healthy ones.
The industrial doctoral project, which is the result of a collaboration between the University of Barcelona and the private sector, focuses on addressing high-risk cancers such as pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma.
The Industrial Doctorate project, the result of seventeen years of research, already has patent protection in the United States and is headed towards in vivo validation. It is currently in its initial phase and plans key studies to advance towards the regulated non-clinical phase and, later, the clinical phase.
The advancement of current biotechnology requires a transition from conventional cytotoxic treatments to precision therapies with optimized safety profiles. In this context, the Barcelona-based startup TEMA Therapeutics may have found a new way to attack cancer: not by preventing tumor cells from reproducing, as most current treatments do, but by cutting off their energy supply.
The study and validation of the mechanism of action of the antineoplastic compound GG-1815 is the objective of the Industrial Doctorate that Pol Sauqué Martínez is developing at TEMA Therapeutics, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona, under the direction of Teresa Royo Bargués and Francesc Tebar Ramon, and with Maria Rubies as company manager. The central objective is the validation of the mechanism of action of the compound GG-1815, a small organic molecule that, unlike traditional chemotherapy, does not act on DNA replication, but on the specific energy metabolism of the tumor cell. In other words, the project aims to understand how this therapeutic candidate acts in tumor cells and how it could contribute to opening up “ more selective and less toxic ” treatment pathways, in a field where toxicity remains an important limitation of many therapies.
"The compound is capable of stopping the cancer cell and leading it to its own self-destruction"
Eighteen years of research and an international patent
The current research is not the result of chance, but the result of almost two decades of scientific work. It all began in 2005 with a public-private collaboration project to study how antioxidants could influence cancer. For years, the results were contradictory, but Dr. Teresa Royo, scientific director of TEMA Therapeutics, persisted until identifying a series of chemical structures with a unique behavior: they stopped tumor growth in a systematic way.
Conventional cancer treatments (chemotherapy, targeted therapies and immunotherapy) have significant limitations. Chemotherapy affects not only tumor cells, but also any rapidly replicating cell, such as hair, bone marrow or digestive tract cells. Precision therapies, on the other hand, lose effectiveness when the tumor develops resistance. And immunotherapy, despite recent advances, does not solve all cases.
Precisely to overcome these limits and professionalize this academic legacy, TEMA Therapeutics, founded in February 2022, has focused its research on alternative mechanisms of action focused on cellular metabolism. Now, within the framework of the Industrial Doctorate Plan, Pol Sauqué has the challenge of validating the mechanism of action of GG-1815, the company’s most promising pharmacological candidate, which already has international patent protection in the United States.
Multidisciplinary collaboration has been the fundamental pillar for the viability of this asset. The synthesis of the GG-1815 compound has been carried out in collaboration with the team of Dr. Yamagare Fall at the University of Vigo, while the ultrastructural characterization using electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) is being developed in the Cell Biology group of the UB, under the direction of Dr. Carles Enrich Bastús. This academic-business integration allows the impact of the compound on structures such as mitochondria and contacts between cell membranes to be analyzed in nanometric detail.
A mechanism of action based on metabolic vulnerability
The innovation of GG-1815 lies in its ability to block the pathway that cancer cells use to generate energy, a phenomenon known as the Warburg effect. While current therapies have high toxicity when affecting healthy tissues that replicate rapidly (such as the bone marrow or the digestive tract), this new compound has high selectivity. According to Sauqué: ” the advantage of this mechanism of action is that it completely blocks tumor cell viability and tumor progression, but it could also improve the tumor stroma by reducing the acidification of the environment .”
This reduction in acidity in the tumor microenvironment not only compromises the survival of the malignant cell, but could synergize with current immunological therapies, facilitating the activity of the patient’s immune system against the tumor. Research has confirmed that blocking this pathway activates the caspase 3 cascade, leading to apoptosis or programmed cell death of the tumor without compromising the viability of healthy human cells.
This mechanism is highly selective. Since the pathway that the drug blocks is only overactivated in the tumor, the patient’s healthy cells are not affected, which bodes well for a treatment with almost no toxicity.
"Having combined business and academia has allowed us to take a cross-disciplinary approach to the project aimed at the market."
The path to patients
The project is currently in a critical phase of proof-of-concept efficacy testing in animal models for stage IV glioblastoma multiforme. Early results have shown significant differences in efficacy, specifically a 20% increase in survival of treated mice, which is encouraging considering that this is one of the most aggressive tumors with a median life expectancy of twelve months. Given the lack of effective treatments, GG-1815 could qualify for orphan drug designation, which would significantly accelerate its development.
To move forward, the project combines biochemical and imaging approaches. Among the techniques planned are colony formation assays in tumor cell lines, labeling to analyze cell cycle phases and apoptosis markers. In addition, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are incorporated to examine possible nanoscale ultrastructural effects and changes on the cell surface.
” We have an ethical obligation to try to take this project forward and we will put all our will into it ,” says Sauqué. The success of the immediate phases, which include ADME and toxicological studies, will be decisive for the opening of investment rounds that will allow the jump to the clinical phase. Ultimately, TEMA Therapeutics not only aspires to a new pharmaceutical solution, but to redefine the standard of care, prioritizing patient survival and their quality of life through high-precision metabolic medicine.
If the animal trials, currently underway, confirm the success of the molecule, it would open the door to a new generation of oncological therapies. It is not only about prolonging life, but also doing so with dignity. ” The aim is to find an effective treatment, but also to offer patients a better quality of life ,” concludes the doctoral student. This project exemplifies how collaboration between academia and business can transform basic science into real solutions for society.
