Step Pharma

What Step Pharma does

Step Pharma SAS is a clinical-stage French biopharmaceutical company developing dencatistat (STP938), a first-in-class, orally bioavailable, highly selective (>1,000x CTPS1 over CTPS2) small-molecule inhibitor of cytidine triphosphate synthase 1. Founded in June 2014 in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France, by Kurma Partners, the Imagine Institute, and Sygnature Discovery, the company is built on human genetic discoveries by Prof. Alain Fischer and Dr Sylvain Latour showing that loss of CTPS1 is tolerated by healthy cells but lethal to cancer cells. The mechanism exploits synthetic lethality: solid tumours with CTPS2 deletion (claimed to represent up to 20% of all cancers) become absolutely dependent on CTPS1 for pyrimidine synthesis, enabling a biomarker-selected precision-oncology approach.

Dencatistat is being advanced through a "pipeline in a product" strategy across three active clinical programmes: a Phase 1/2 trial in relapsed/refractory T cell and B cell lymphomas (first patient dosed October 2022), a Phase 1 trial in CTPS2-deleted solid tumours with a planned CTPS2-null ovarian expansion cohort (first patient dosed September 2024 at Next Oncology, San Antonio), and a Phase 1b trial in essential thrombocythaemia (first participant dosed September 2025), with a Phase 2 ET trial planned for June 2026. The asset is protected by US Patent 11,987,573 and European Patent EP3870574 (term through October 2039, extendable), WHO INN designation of the name "dencatistat," and FDA Orphan Drug Designation for T-cell lymphoma (May 2025). The company also runs a biomarker-discovery collaboration with Concr (announced December 2022) to integrate experimental and patient datasets for response prediction.

Step Pharma is pre-revenue with no commercialized products and no disclosed pricing; its stated revenue model is future one-time licensing or direct commercialization upon regulatory approval. It is venture-backed, having raised approximately €73 million in disclosed equity across seed, Series A, €35 million Series B (March 2021, co-led by Hadean Ventures and Sunstone Life Science Ventures) and €38 million Series C (October 2025, led by V-Bio Ventures), supplemented by a €2.5 million EIC Accelerator grant in February 2026 with up to €10 million in potential follow-on equity. Clinical operations span France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with research collaborations including the University of Nantes (CRCI2NA). The company has 11–50 employees and is led by CEO Andrew Parker, with clinical and translational leadership provided by CSO Philip Beer (promoted January 2023) and newly appointed CMO Karen Smith (October 2025).

Name

Step Pharma

Legal name

STEP PHARMA SAS

Website

https://step-ph.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Step Pharma SAS is a French clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing dencatistat, a first-in-class oral CTPS1 inhibitor, for T cell and B cell lymphomas, CTPS2-null solid tumours, and essential thrombocythaemia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Oncology Therapeutics

NAICS

Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing (325412), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAIALAE

Clinical Development (Phase I–III Trial Design & Execution)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Pharmaceuticals/Pharmaceutical Research and Development

SECONDARYHLAIALAB

Lead Optimization & Preclinical Candidate Selection

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Pharmaceuticals/Pharmaceutical Research and Development

SECONDARYHLAAAIAI

Target Identification & Validation Platforms (omics-driven, chemoproteomics, genetic validation)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Biotechnology & Biologics/Biologic Drug Discovery Platforms (screening, antibody engineering, synthetic biology)

Keywords

• Targeted oncology therapy
• CTPS1 inhibitor drug
• Clinical-stage biopharmaceuticals
• Precision cancer therapeutics
• Hematologic malignancy treatment

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint-genis-pouilly

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Pharmaceutical Product Revenue: Pre-revenue clinical stage company. Future revenue expected from commercialization of dencatistat and potential pipeline assets upon regulatory approval.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Step Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing dencatistat (STP938), a first-in-class, highly selective, orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of CTPS1 for the targeted treatment of cancer. The lead asset is being advanced across multiple indications including T cell and B cell lymphomas, solid tumors with CTPS2 deletion (ovarian, endometrial, lung), and essential thrombocythaemia, supported by a CTPS2-deletion biomarker assay for patient selection.

Product overview

Step Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing dencatistat (STP938), a first-in-class, highly selective, orally bioavailable CTPS1 inhibitor, as a targeted cancer therapy. The company's 'pipeline in a product' strategy involves advancing dencatistat across multiple cancer indications including T cell lymphoma, B cell lymphoma, essential thrombocythaemia, and solid tumours (with CTPS2 deletion biomarker). The CTPS1 inhibitor platform technology is built on the scientific discovery that inhibiting CTPS1 selectively blocks cancer cell proliferation while sparing healthy cells.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Dencatistat (STP938) Dencatistat (STP938) is a first-in-class, highly selective, orally bioavailable small molecule inhibitor of cytidine triphosphate synthase 1 (CTPS1), with greater than 1,000-fold selectivity for human CTPS1 over CTPS2. It blocks proliferation of cancer cells by inhibiting de novo pyrimidine synthesis while sparing healthy cells, and is being developed for adult patients with T cell lymphomas (peripheral T cell lymphoma and cutaneous T cell lymphoma), B cell lymphomas including mantle cell lymphoma, essential thrombocythaemia resistant or intolerant to hydroxycarbamide, and solid tumours with CTPS2 deletion such as ovarian, endometrial and lung cancers.

Quantifiable outcome

• Greater than 1,000x selectivity for CTPS1 over CTPS2
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, research and founding.

• ConcrstrategicTechnology or Integration · 7 December 2022Partnership to identify biomarkers to improve therapeutic response to CTPS1 inhibitors. Concr's proprietary statistical modelling uses cosmology methods to integrate diverse experimental data with patient and tumour-centric datasets for patient selection.
• University of Nantes (CRCI2NA)researchStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch collaboration demonstrating therapeutic activity of CTPS1 inhibitors in mantle cell lymphoma including synergy with venetoclax. Published in Haematologica 2024.
• Sygnature DiscoveryfoundingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded Step Pharma in June 2014 alongside Kurma Partners and the Imagine Institute based on scientific discoveries of CTPS1 inhibition.
• Imagine InstitutefoundingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founded Step Pharma in June 2014. Scientific discoveries by Prof. Alain Fischer and Dr Sylvain Latour formed the basis of the company's CTPS1 inhibition approach.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Tango Therapeutics: Clinical-stage synthetic lethality oncology company whose platform leverages cancer genetics to develop precision oncology drugs. Directly comparable to Step Pharma in using genetic-loss-of-function to identify novel targeted oncology mechanisms and biomarker-driven patient selection.
• Repare Therapeutics: Precision oncology company developing synthetic lethality therapeutics based on genome-wide CRISPR screening, with clinical-stage assets in solid tumours. Closely analogous business model and scientific approach to Step Pharma's CTPS1/2 synthetic lethality thesis.
• KSQ Therapeutics: Clinical-stage oncology company using genome-scale CRISPR-based target identification to develop precision oncology drugs. Operates the same discovery-to-development flywheel as Step Pharma's CTPS1 program and competes for similar investor and partnership mindshare.

Emerging players

• Black Diamond Therapeutics: Clinical-stage precision oncology company developing allosteric, mutation-targeted therapies. Comparable in stage and oncology focus, although Step Pharma's synthetic lethality mechanism is distinct from Black Diamond's mutant-allosteric-inhibitor approach.
• Nuvalent: Clinical-stage precision oncology company developing targeted kinase inhibitors. Shares Step Pharma's strategy of rational design, biomarker selection, and multi-indication clinical development, though focused on different targets.
• Syros Pharmaceuticals: Clinical-stage precision medicine company developing small-molecule therapies targeting gene regulation in oncology. Comparable stage and platform-based business model, although targeting a different biological mechanism than CTPS1 inhibition.
• Arcus Biosciences: Clinical-stage oncology company developing small-molecule immuno-oncology and tumour-targeted therapies. Comparable clinical-stage positioning and multi-indication development strategy, although focused on different mechanisms.
• Theseus Pharmaceuticals: Clinical-stage oncology company developing targeted therapies for resistant cancers, including T-cell lymphomas. Highly relevant for direct indication overlap with Step Pharma's T-cell lymphoma programme, although targeting different biology.

Broad incumbents

• Revolution Medicines: Clinical-stage precision oncology company developing targeted therapies for frontier targets including RAS and synthetic lethality. Larger and more capitalised than Step Pharma but operates in the same biology-driven oncology innovation space.

Others

• Sygnature Discovery: Integrated drug discovery CRO and co-founder of Step Pharma (with Kurma Partners and Imagine Institute). Closely connected to Step Pharma as scientific co-founder and ongoing R&D partner, rather than a direct commercial competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/step-pharma

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors10 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 Step Pharma