Expanding What Can Be Targeted
Understanding the biology behind precision-targeted therapeutics.
For decades, advances in targeted cancer therapies have transformed the way many cancers are treated. Yet one of oncology's greatest challenges remains unchanged: delivering therapeutic payloads precisely where they are needed while minimizing unintended effects on healthy tissue.
Ardego Therapeutics was founded on a simple but transformative idea:
What if the greatest limitation wasn't the therapy itself—but the ability to reach its intended target?
That question became the foundation for the ASOC™ platform.
current challenge
Finding the target is only the beginning.
Many modern therapeutics are designed to recognize specific biomarkers associated with cancer cells. Yet recognition alone does not guarantee therapeutic success.
The real challenge is achieving targeted, successful intracellular delivery.
Cancer cells exist within extraordinarily complex biological environments. Even therapies designed with exceptional specificity can struggle to reach intracellular targets efficiently while avoiding healthy tissue. This delivery challenge has limited the full potential of many promising therapeutic approaches, including antisense oligonucleotides and other precision medicines.
Ardego believes the future of targeted therapeutics depends on solving this challenge.
a novel approach
Precision begins before the therapy enters the cell.
Rather than asking how to create more powerful therapeutics, Ardego asked a different question:
How can therapies be delivered more intelligently?
The ASOC™ platform was developed to improve the precision of therapeutic delivery through a novel, multi-component system that works with the biology of the tumor microenvironment.
By combining antibody targeting, protease-responsive activation, and therapeutic oligonucleotides into a single precision-targeting platform, ASOC™ is designed to selectively engage cancer cells that have historically been difficult, impractical, or impossible to access.
This represents more than a new delivery method and a new way of approaching targeted therapeutics.
The Science Behind ASOC™
Precision targeting through biology.
The proprietary ASOC™ platform integrates three essential components into a coordinated delivery system.
Part 2
Substrate
Cancer cell behavior confirms drug release
Substrate is a gate keeper for release of drug. Cell proteases from tumor cells, required for metastasis, cleave substrate to release the drug.
Antibody
Part 1
Targeting
The antibody is engineered to recognize and bind to specific receptors expressed on the surface of cancer cells, providing the first level of targeting specificity. Existing antibodies find cancer cells; many are marketed drugs today (Herceptin, Rituxan).g
Part 3
Therapeutic Oligonucleotide
Delivery of novel drugs
Our therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides are dually functional drugs. They diffuse into cells (patented) and bind to oncogene transcripts (patented designs). This results in cancer cell death.
ASOC™PATENTED DELIVERY
How ASOC™ Works
Precision delivery in five coordinated steps.
01
Target Recognition
The antibody selectively binds receptors expressed on the cancer cell surface.
02
Tumor Localization
The ASOC™ conjugate accumulates within the tumor microenvironment.
03
Protease Activation
Tumor-associated proteases cleave the proprietary substrate linker.
01
Target Recognition
The antibody selectively binds receptors expressed on the cancer cell surface.
02
Tumor Localization
The ASOC™ conjugate accumulates within the tumor microenvironment.
03
Protease Activation
Tumor-associated proteases cleave the proprietary substrate linker.
04
Therapeutic Release
Therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides are released and enter the cancer cell through endocytosis and intracellular trafficking.
05
Gene Silencing
The therapeutic oligonucleotide binds complementary mRNA, inhibiting oncogene expression and reducing production of cancer-promoting proteins.
LIMITLESS POTENTIAL
Why Precision Delivery Matters
The effectiveness of many targeted therapies depends not only on what they target—but on how efficiently they reach that target.
Ardego's precision-targeting platform is designed to improve therapeutic delivery while reducing unintended activity beyond the tumor and toxicity in the patient.
Potential advantages include:
- Greater targeting specificity
- Improved intracellular delivery
- Expanded therapeutic opportunities
- Potentially lower systemic toxicity
- Reduced impact on healthy tissue
- Fewer debilitating side effects
- Better therapeutic outcomes
