Unraveling
Cancer’s Blueprint
a New Era of Targeted Therapy
Our Story
Born from Urgency: A New Hope
for Patients with High-Risk Cancers
At Coiled, we're building a new paradigm for precision medicine. Our journey began with the conviction that the next wave of therapeutic breakthroughs lies in precisely targeting historically intractable proteins, particularly coiled-coil and other structurally complex oncogenic targets.
Our story is one of relentless innovation and a deep belief in the power of combining advanced computational chemistry with rigorous structural biology. Today, Coiled stands at the forefront of a new era, fueled by a commitment to patients. We believe that by systematically targeting cancer's core vulnerabilities, we can deliver truly transformative, precision therapeutics for those who need them most. Spun out from A2A Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2025, Coiled is a focused, clinical-stage oncology company advancing promising new therapies for cancer.
leadership
Sridhar Vempati, PhD
Co-Founder, Chief Executive & Scientific Officer
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Sotirios Stergiopoulos, MD
Co-Founder
Chief Medical Advisor
Chaemin Lim, PhD
Co-Founder
Chief Technology Officer
Robbin Frnka
Chief Clinical Operations
Officer
Scientific Advisory Board
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Board of Directors
To be added soon
Our Science
Disrupting Cancer's Core
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Coiled is dedicated to developing the next generation of cancer therapeutics by identifying and disrupting key driver pathways. Centrosome Amplification (CA) is highly prevalent in aggressive tumors and is strongly associated with tumor progression and poor prognosis. In addition, cancer cells have exploited the DNA damage process and the immune system to advantage of survival of cancer cells. Our therapeutics are designed to exploit this vulnerability, selectively eliminating the most aggressive cancer cells while sparing healthy cells.
​TACC3: A multifunctional Player in Cancer Cells​
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At Coiled, we have identified Transforming Acidic Coiled-Coil Containing Protein 3 (TACC3) as critical player required by cancer cells for its survival. This isn't just any gene; TACC3 is a critical scaffolding protein, orchestrating multiple protein-protein interactions vital for processes like mitosis, DNA repair, and immunity. Its over expression is a hallmark in many cancers, particularly those with centrosomal amplification, points to its significant role in disease. Furthermore, DepMap analysis from the Broad Institute has recently underscored TACC3 as a remarkably selective target. Crucially, studies show TACC3 is embryonically lethal in mice but dispensable in adult mice, indicating it could be an ideal target for effective and precise cancer intervention.
TACC3 CRISPR KNOCKOUT DISPLAYS ATTRACTIVE DEPENDENCY (Depmap)​
TACC3 CRISPR Knockout Displays Attractive Dependency Distribution Across Human Cancer Cell Models (DepMap)
TACC3 is More Selective Non-Toxic Target
Our Platform
We don't just build small molecule libraries; we SCULPT them. Coiled has right to leverages A2A's proprietary AI/ML-driven de novo design platform. This powerful suite of tools and expertise allows us to discover and develop therapeutics against coiled-coil and other structurally complex oncogenic targets, from discovery to the clinic. This process rapidly sifts through vast chemical spaces, iteratively refining candidates until we identify compounds with optimal properties and precise target features.
Our Pipeline
First-in-Class TACC3 Inhibitor: AO-252
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Our lead program is AO-252, a meticulously designed small molecule inhibitor of TACC3. AO-252 specifically targets and disrupts the critical protein-protein interactions occurring on the C-terminus of TACC3. Crucially, it spares the N-terminus interactions vital for normal hematopoiesis, minimizing potential side effects.
These C-terminus interactions are essential for cancer cell survival. When inhibited by AO-252, they trigger severe DNA damage, leading to DNA leakage into the cytoplasm and activation of innate immune responses within the tumor. AO-252's mechanism involves inhibiting multiple PPI that includes key proteins like DNA-PK, PARP1, BRCA, KU70, KIFC1, MBD2, & HDAC2 involved in mitosis, DNA damage repair process, replication and transcription.
Preclinical studies have demonstrated tremendous single-agent efficacy of AO-252 across a broad spectrum of aggressive cancer models, including ovarian, endometrial, breast, prostate, gastric, sarcoma, bladder, and lung cancers.
AO-252 is current being tested in a phase I clinical trial (NCT06136884).
AO-252 Mechanism of Action
CO-001
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Coiled is also working on novel target and modalities currently in discovery stage targeting cancer's core vulnerabilities.
Investors
