NTRC Therapeutics, a biotech company specialized in the research and development of kinase inhibitors and degraders, will continue under the name Crossfire Oncology.
Founded in 2011 as Netherlands Translational Research Center, NTRC originally pursued a dual business model providing services to external parties and in parallel performing research and development on novel therapeutics. In 2021 the company was split and Oncolines B.V., the new service providing entity, sold to Symeres B.V. in January 2023. NTRC Therapeutics continued as an independent entity primarily focused on the development of kinase targeting therapeutics.
Over the past two years, NTRC Therapeutics has undergone a significant transformation, marked by the expansion of its platforms and the diversification of its project portfolio.
Based on its proprietary EPriL (Energetically Privileged Ligand) inhibitor platform, a potentially best-in-class non-covalent BTK inhibitor (NTRC 12026-0) was developed. This ncBTKi targets both wild type BTK and mutant variants hereof that arise following treatment with clinically approved covalent and non-covalent BTK inhibitors. NTRC 12026-0 is expected to enter clinical development H2 2024.
A proprietary kinase degrader platform was launched at the end of 2022, which makes use of the EPriL platform for the design of its kinase binding ligands. Endeavors to further expand this platform to degrader antibody conjugates are ongoing.
Depending on the aberrant function and/or expression profile of the kinase of interest, the most suitable platform can be selected. This allows for targeting of kinases playing a key role in cancer from various angles, hence the new name Crossfire Oncology.