USA-based Endocyte (Nasdaq: ECYT) is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company developing targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.

It uses proprietary technology to create novel small molecule drug conjugates or SMDCs, and companion imaging diagnostics. SMDCs actively target receptors that are over-expressed on diseased cells, relative to healthy cells.

This targeted approach is designed to enable the treatment of patients with highly active drugs at greater doses, delivered more frequently, and over longer periods of time than would be possible with the untargeted drug alone.

It is also developing companion imaging diagnostics for each of our SMDCs that are designed to identify the patients whose disease over-expresses the target of the therapy and who are therefore more likely to benefit from treatment. This combination of an SMDC with its companion imaging diagnostic is designed to personalize the treatment of patients by delivering effective therapy, selectively to diseased cells, in patients most likely to benefit.

Endocyte has multiple drugs in human clinical trials. Lead SMDC, vintafolide (EC145), targets the folate receptor, which is frequently over-expressed in some of the most prevalent, and difficult to treat solid tumor indications, including ovarian, non-small cell lung, breast, colorectal, kidney, endometrial and other cancers.

The company identifies cancer patients with EC20-positive tumors using etarfolatide (EC20). Etarfolatide is the proprietary companion imaging diagnostic for vintafolide (EC145); both target the folate receptor.