The firm, Quentis Therapeutics, says that the money will fund clinical trials for its new medicine, a small molecule IRE1α inhibitor, to begin next year. The idea is that harsh conditions within tumors inhibit the immune system from attacking the cancer. By turning down the body’s stress response, which alters a network of tubes and membranes known as the endoplasmic reticulum, the immune system could have a better chance at fighting cancer and existing immune-boosting cancer drugs might have a better chance of proving effective.
