Who We Are
At Kronos Bio, we’re focused on creating a world where no life is cut short by cancer or other serious diseases. That’s why we’re developing therapeutics that target the dysregulated transcription that causes cancer and other serious diseases—to bring forward novel therapies for patients who need them.
Our Science
Our team has the tools, scientific expertise and determination to discover, develop and deliver medicines that reach traditionally hard-to-reach targets.
Transcription factors have long been attractive to drug developers, who historically have pursued them in isolation with little success. Our approach is different: We pursue the transcription factors in context, within their transcriptional regulatory networks (TRNs). By analyzing the TRN in its entirety, we can identify the critical nodes that are responsible for a transcription factor’s activity. This provides us with multiple avenues to pursue, rather than limiting our focus on a single transcription factor—and in turn, allows us to advance programs with the greatest potential to inhibit oncogenic activity.
Our Pipeline
We have two investigational compounds currently being evaluated for patients with cancer.
We are advancing an oral CDK9 inhibitor, KB-0742, to treat patients with solid tumors addicted to oncogenic transcription factor activity.
KB-0742 is the first investigational medicine from our internal discovery platform to enter clinical trials. KB-0742 is in an ongoing Phase 1/2 study and enrollment in two expansion cohorts is ongoing, including Cohort A for patients with MYC-dependent tumors, such as triple negative breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and ovarian cancer, and Cohort B for patients with transcriptionally addicted cancers, including chordomas, sarcomas and small cell lung cancer.
Our investigational oral SYK inhibitor, lanraplenib, is being developed to treat FLT3-mutated, relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML). SYK is a non receptor tyrosine kinase that is a central hub of oncogenic signaling in AML. It is a critical regulator of FLT3 activity and is itself dysregulated by HOXA9 and MEIS1, two transcription factors that are commonly upregulated in AML. Lanraplenib is currently in the dose escalation portion of a Phase 1b/2 trial in combination with gilteritinib in patients with relapsed/refractory FLT3-mutated acute myeloid leukemia.
Beyond these two investigational compounds, we are advancing additional discovery programs, including one focused on the MYC TRN and another focused on the AR TRN. We continue to pursue earlier-stage discovery work across several additional TRNs.
Additionally, Kronos Bio began a discovery collaboration with Genentech in January 2023. Our companies are working together to advance novel therapies against transcriptional targets in oncology.
To view our pipeline, click here.
Our Culture
Our work is our calling, and we’re pursuing it together.
Our team has an established track record with decades of scientific and business experience. We find meaning in making purposeful connections as we seek to bring forward groundbreaking therapies for patients who need them. We are intensely dedicated and curious—and we are taking informed risks to close the gaps between what we know now and what will change the way cancer and other serious diseases are treated in the future.
Our Core Values
Empower One Another
Embrace The Unknown
Turn Impossible Into Inevitable
Lead With Heart
Careers
Join our team.
We’re looking for individuals who want to join us as we seek to discover and develop new medicines. Our employees in San Mateo, California and Cambridge, Massachusetts are passionate about the scientific problems we’re striving to solve and the patients who could one day benefit from the progress we can make together.
See our current list of openings below or submit your resume to careers@kronosbio.com.
