Purdue Company ‘Lighting Up’ Cancer

Image of cancer cells illuminated (right) by OTL38 courtesy of On Target Laboratories.

Purdue Research Park-based On Target Laboratories LLC has secured more than $5 million in private funding. The company develops molecules that attach to cancerous tissue and illuminate them for surgery. The company’s OTL38 compound is set to enter phase 3 clinical trials in ovarian cancer and phase 2 testing in lung cancer.

It is designed to "light up" over 40 percent of solid tumors. On Target says, in addition to the previously-mentioned cancers, it has administered the molecule to patients during investigator-sponsored trails in renal, endometrial, lung and pituitary cancers.

Chief Executive Officer Marty Low says "we have been very pleased with the results of the phase 2 ovarian cancer trial and the various investigator sponsored trials. We look forward to expanding clinical development in key indications beyond lung and ovarian cancers in the near future. It is our plan to enable a surgeon to visualize all solid tumor cancers with a selection of a few molecules and we are well on our way to doing so. We appreciate our investors who share the same vision and help us move our technologies to the market place."

On Target is also working on other molecules it says could target "the majority of all remaining cancers." OTL78 is set for clinical trails early next year and is currently in the manufacturing process.

In 2014, the company landed $15 million in funding.