Shasqi

What Shasqi does

Shasqi, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in San Francisco that develops cancer therapeutics using its proprietary CAPAC (Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer) platform, built on 2022 Nobel Prize-winning click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry. The platform separates the tumor-targeting binder from the cancer drug payload and reunites them only at the tumor site via a rapid, covalent, non-immunogenic click chemistry reaction, eliminating the catabolic activation that limits conventional antibody-drug conjugates. Shasqi's lead clinical asset, SQ3370, pairs an intratumorally injected biopolymer (SQL70) with a doxorubicin protodrug and has demonstrated in a Phase 1 study the ability to deliver 12x the conventional dose of doxorubicin per cycle with no dose-limiting toxicities. The pipeline also includes systemic antigen-targeted programs against HER2 (SQ2201), CEACAM5, TROP2, and NECTIN-4, each pairing a clickable binder with payloads such as MMAE, exatecan, or radioisotopes.

The company has raised approximately $65 million cumulatively, including a $50 million Series B in November 2021 led by undisclosed investors, alongside SBIR and NCI grants. As a pre-revenue biotech, Shasqi's commercial model is anchored on big-pharma partnerships and eventual product commercialization; its current strategic partnership with Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc. (initiated June 2023, expanded October 2023) focuses on the SQL70 biopolymer and additional payloads. Its go-to-market motion is scientific-conference and KOL-led, with active presentation at AACR, ESMO, World ADC, and SITC, peer-reviewed publication in Clinical Cancer Research and ACS Central Science, and J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference presence. Shasqi sells nothing commercially today; its customers in a near-term sense are clinical trial investigators and sites, with the eventual end-users being oncology patients with advanced solid tumors, and the eventual paying counterparties being biopharmaceutical partners seeking differentiated targeted oncology assets.

Name

Shasqi

Legal name

Shasqi, Inc.

Website

https://shasqi.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Shasqi is a clinical-stage San Francisco biotech developing cancer therapeutics via its proprietary CAPAC click chemistry platform, which separates tumor targeting from payload activation to widen the therapeutic window of ADCs and radiopharmaceuticals across multiple solid tumor targets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Targeted Cancer Therapeutics

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing (325412)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs) & Antibody Conjugates (HLAAAAAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Oncology Specialty Pharmaceuticals (HLAIACAA), Oncology & Hematology Pharmaceuticals (HLAIAAAC), Therapeutic Radiopharmaceuticals (Radioligand/Targeted Radionuclide Therapy) (HLAIAGAB)

Keywords

• Click chemistry therapeutics
• Targeted cancer therapy
• Oncology drug development
• Protodrug platform
• Antibody drug conjugates

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Pharmaceutical Product Commercialization: As a clinical-stage biotech company, Shasqi's primary revenue model will be the commercialization of novel cancer therapeutics developed through its CAPAC platform. The company is advancing SQ3370 through Phase 2 clinical trials for soft tissue sarcoma and head and neck cancer, with multiple pipeline assets in preclinical development targeting HER2, TROP2, NECTIN-4, and CEACAM5.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Shasqi develops proprietary oncology therapeutics using its CAPAC® (Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer) platform, which applies in-vivo click chemistry to selectively activate cancer drug payloads at tumor sites while sparing healthy tissue. Its lead clinical asset SQ3370 pairs an intratumorally injected biopolymer with a doxorubicin protodrug, and pipeline programs extend the platform to systemic antigen-targeted combinations (HER2, TROP2, NECTIN-4, CEACAM5) paired with multiple payloads (MMAE, exatecan, doxorubicin, radioisotopes). The company's deliverables are pre-targeted cancer therapeutics developed for biopharma partners, oncology research institutions, and ultimately patients with advanced solid tumors.

Product overview

Shasqi is a clinical-stage biotech company with a modular platform called CAPAC® (Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer), which uses 2022 Nobel Prize-winning click chemistry to enable tumor-targeted drug activation. The platform separates tumor-targeting agents from cancer drug payloads, reuniting them only at the tumor site via in-vivo click chemistry. Lead clinical product SQ3370 (doxorubicin + intratumoral biopolymer SQL70) demonstrated first-in-human click chemistry use with 12x dose capability. The pipeline includes systemic combinations: SQ2201 (HER2 + MMAE), CEACAM5 + MMAE, TROP2 + MMAE/Exatecan, and NECTIN-4 + MMAE, all leveraging the modular CAPAC architecture to widen therapeutic windows by eliminating catabolic activation.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CAPAC® (Click Activated Protodrugs Against Cancer) Proprietary pre-targeting platform that separates tumor-targeting binders from cancer drug payloads and reunites them at the tumor site via in-vivo click chemistry (2022 Nobel Prize-winning technology). Eliminates catabolic activation to widen therapeutic window of ADCs and targeted radiopharm approaches. Licensed or co-developed with biopharma partners including Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation.
• SQ3370 Lead clinical asset combining an intratumorally injected hyaluronate-derivative biopolymer with a doxorubicin protodrug. First in-vivo click chemistry therapeutic tested in humans; demonstrated ability to administer 12x conventional doxorubicin dose per cycle with mild and manageable toxicities, including in patients receiving >15x conventional dose-equivalent. Currently in Phase 2 studies for soft tissue sarcoma and head and neck cancer.
• SQ2201 (SQT01 + SQP22) Systemic HER2 antigen targeting agent (SQT01) paired with click-activatable MMAE protodrug (SQP22), activated via click chemistry at the tumor site. First demonstration of systemically administered antigen targeting agent activating high doses of cancer drugs at tumors using click chemistry. Preclinical data showed potent anti-tumor effects surpassing conventional ADC.
• CEACAM5 + MMAE Program Systemically administered CEACAM5-targeting agent paired with an MMAE payload activated via click chemistry at the tumor site. CEACAM5 is overexpressed in lung, gastric, pancreatic, colorectal, esophageal/HNSCC, and cervical cancers. Early rat data showed a 300-fold improvement in tolerability versus conventional MMAE at 50x the dose.
• TROP2 + MMAE/Exatecan Program TROP2 antigen targeting agent paired with MMAE or exatecan payloads via the CAPAC click chemistry platform. Preclinical efficacy and safety data presented at AACR 2024 for solid tumors expressing TROP2.
• NECTIN-4 + MMAE Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 12x higher dose of doxorubicin administered per cycle compared to conventional approaches with mild and manageable toxicities, including less than anticipated myelosuppression
• +4 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2023Research collaboration to apply Shasqi's CAPAC platform to the development of new cancer therapies. The collaboration focuses on Shasqi's intratumorally injected biopolymer (SQL70) and a co-development committee has been formed to identify the next clinical candidate. In October 2023, the collaboration was expanded to allow for an additional payload to be developed and advanced through preclinical testing. The collaboration leverages Shasqi's chemically-activated drug platform to potentially create new targeted cancer therapies with improved therapeutic indices.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mersana Therapeutics: Clinical-stage biotech developing ADC platform technologies to improve cancer therapeutic windows. Directly comparable as a similarly-sized clinical-stage ADC platform company targeting payload delivery and tolerability improvements.
• Bicycle Therapeutics: Clinical-stage biotech using bicyclic peptide conjugates for targeted cancer therapy. Comparable as a modular platform company pursuing next-generation targeted oncology with novel chemistry approaches and multiple pipeline assets.
• CytomX Therapeutics: Clinical-stage biotech with Probody platform for tumor-activated therapeutics. Comparable as a platform-based oncology company using conditional activation to widen therapeutic windows, similar mechanism to Shasqi's click chemistry activation concept.
• Pyxis Oncology: Clinical-stage biotech developing antibody-drug conjugates and immunotherapies. Comparable as a similarly-sized ADC-focused company with multiple oncology targets in pipeline, including ADC programs addressing solid tumors.
• Tubulis: Clinical-stage biotech developing next-generation ADCs with novel linkers and payloads. Comparable as a platform company focused on improving ADC therapeutic windows through chemistry innovations targeting solid tumors.
• ProfoundBio: Clinical-stage biotech developing ADCs targeting solid tumors with proprietary linker technology. Comparable as a similar-stage ADC platform company pursuing differentiated cancer therapeutics with multiple programs in development.

Broad incumbents

• Daiichi Sankyo: Major pharmaceutical company pioneering ADCs (Enhertu, Datroway) in partnership with AstraZeneca. Comparable as a leading ADC developer whose success defines the market Shasqi's CAPAC platform aims to disrupt and improve upon.
• Seagen (Pfizer): Pioneer in ADC development (Adcetris, Padcev, Tivdak), now owned by Pfizer. Comparable as the established ADC leader whose technology Shasqi explicitly aims to surpass through click chemistry-enabled pre-targeting.
• ImmunoGen (AbbVie): Pioneer in ADC development, now part of AbbVie. Comparable as an established ADC platform company whose technology and approaches set the competitive benchmark Shasqi's CAPAC platform is designed to improve upon.

Regional players

• Telix Pharmaceuticals: Commercial-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing targeted cancer therapeutics. Comparable as Shasqi's pipeline includes radioisotope payloads, positioning CAPAC as a potential platform improvement for targeted radiopharmaceutical delivery.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shasqi-inc.
• Xx.com/shasqipharma

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shasqi