Pheast is a Catalio-initiated company developing immunotherapies to block macrophage checkpoints.

Pheast has discovered a new immune checkpoint expressed on tumor cells, called CD24, that serves as a “don’t eat me” signal for macrophages.  If left undisturbed, CD24 allows tumors to evade detection by the innate immune system.  However, the Pheast team has shown that when the CD24 checkpoint is blocked, macrophages can successfully clear tumors in ovarian and breast cancers, improving patient survival.  In addition to targeting CD24, Pheast is leveraging their expertise in innate immune signaling to build out an immune checkpoint discovery platform across different indications and establish a pipeline of precision immunotherapies to provide treatment options tailored to a patient’s specific tumor profile.