USA-based Synta Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SNTA) is focused on severe medical conditions, including cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases.

Its lead anti-cancer drug candidate, ganetespib, has been studied in over 700 patients in more than 20 clinical trials. In preclinical models, ganetespib inhibits a molecular chaperone called Hsp90, essential to the function of many of the most fundamental drivers of cancer cell growth and proliferation.

Treatment with ganetespib has been shown in preclinical models to reduce some aggressive features of tumors, such as the ability to induce the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), to spread to other organs in the body (metastasis), and to resist attack by traditional therapies (chemo-resistance).

Its strong pipeline of novel internally-developed drug candidates in cancer and inflammatory disease include: elesclomol, a first-in-class inhibitor of mitochondrial energy production; STA-9584, a dual-acting vascular disrupting agent; an oral/topical IL-12/IL-23 inhibitor program for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; and a CRACM ion channel inhibitor program for chronic inflammatory diseases and transplant rejection.