Thank you to Andrew Rudd of Palm Therapeutics for his presentation to FCVC and a special thanks to our FC mentors for carving out time to provide valuable feedback around strategy and positioning.
Palm Therapeutics is a San Diego-based biotech startup (JLABS Resident) developing first-in-class palmitoylation inhibitors in the oncology space. Currently raising a seed round to support their lead NRAS program and establish follow-up programs for two additional oncology targets. Palm has differentiated itself by looking for big value in a previously overlooked area of biology, protein palmitoylation. While the functional role of palmitoylation has been well established in numerous diseases, methods to selectively drug this modification have been underexplored. Palm was founded with the mission of unlocking the therapeutic potential of this space and developing the first palmitoylation-targeted drugs. Using targeted drug chemistry and a proprietary discovery platform, Palm has enabled palmitoylation-targeted drug development for the first time. Their approach allows them to access traditionally undruggable targets, such as NRAS, and address massive unmet clinical need in the oncology space. Palm has been awarded over $1M in highly competitive SBIR grants from NIH (NCI & NINDS) and is a graduate of the Creative Destruction Labs program.
