What pHLIP does

pHLIP, Inc. is a privately-held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company founded in 2014 and headquartered in Kingston, Rhode Island. The company develops and licenses a proprietary pH-Low Insertion Peptide (pHLIP®) platform technology that selectively targets acidic cells in diseased tissues. pHLIP peptides sense low pH at cell surfaces and exploit a cooperative coil-helix transition to either anchor payloads to acidic cell membranes or translocate them directly into the cytoplasm, enabling antigen-independent delivery of imaging and therapeutic agents to tumors, inflamed tissues, and fibrotic lesions. The platform supports three delivery modalities: surface anchoring of imaging/therapeutic agents, cytoplasmic delivery of cell-impermeable cargoes, and decoration of nanoparticles (including LNPs) for enhanced cellular uptake.

The company's internal product pipeline includes pHLIP® ICG (a fluorescence-guided surgery imaging agent in a Phase I/IIa breast cancer trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) and pHLIP® 18F (a PET imaging agent that completed a Phase I trial). Its primary commercial channel is sublicensing the platform to biopharmaceutical partners, most notably Cybrexa Therapeutics, which holds exclusive worldwide rights to develop pHLIP-based oncology therapeutics and is advancing CBX-12 (a pHLIP-exatecan peptide-drug conjugate) through Phase II in ovarian cancer under a 2022 agreement granting Exelixis an acquisition option for $60M upfront and up to $642.5M in milestones. In January 2024, pHLIP expanded its addressable market via a strategic alliance with CordenPharma to co-develop pHLIP-coated lipid nanoparticles for RNA-based and gene therapies. Revenue today is effectively preclinical/clinical in nature, consisting of licensing fees and milestone payments from a small set of partners; the company has raised approximately $6M cumulatively in private financing across 2017 and 2018 and operates with 1-10 employees.

Name

pHLIP

Legal name

pHLIP, Inc.

Website

https://phlipinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

pHLIP, Inc. is a privately-held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops and licenses a proprietary pH-Low Insertion Peptide (pHLIP®) platform for targeted delivery of imaging agents and therapeutics to acidic diseased tissues, serving biopharmaceutical partners (notably Cybrexa Therapeutics) and clinical centers in oncology, inflammation, and fibrosis.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Targeted Oncology Biopharmaceuticals

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), In-Vitro Diagnostic Substance Manufacturing (325413)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), In Vitro & In Vivo Diagnostic Substances (2835)

akta.pro primary industry

Therapeutic Peptides & Protein/Peptide Biologics (HLAAAAAH)

Keywords

• Peptide drug conjugates
• Targeted cancer therapeutics
• Fluorescence-guided surgery
• PET imaging agents
• PH-sensitive drug delivery

Headquarters

HQ city

Kingston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Technology Licensing: pHLIP licenses its technology to biopharmaceutical companies. Cybrexa Therapeutics holds exclusive sublicense rights for therapeutic development of oncology products. The company receives licensing fees and milestone payments through these agreements.
2. Partnership Collaborations: Strategic alliances with companies like CordenPharma for development and manufacturing services. Revenue may come from co-development agreements, manufacturing fees, and milestone payments.
3. Proprietary Product Development: The company develops its own pipeline of pHLIP-based products including imaging agents (pHLIP ICG) and drug conjugates for potential future commercialization upon regulatory approval.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

pHLIP, Inc. develops and commercializes a proprietary pH-Low Insertion Peptide (pHLIP®) platform technology that targets acidic cells in diseased tissues for selective delivery of therapeutic and imaging agents. The company builds an internal pipeline of pHLIP-based products such as pHLIP® ICG (a fluorescence-guided surgery imaging agent) and pHLIP® 18F (a PET imaging agent), and sublicenses the platform to biopharmaceutical partners (notably Cybrexa Therapeutics, which is developing CBX-12 alphalex-exatecan peptide-drug conjugate) for development of oncology, inflammation, and fibrosis therapeutics.

Product overview

pHLIP, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary pHLIP® (pH-Low Insertion Peptide) platform technology for targeted delivery to acidic cells in diseased tissues. The company's product portfolio includes pHLIP® ICG (a fluorescence imaging agent for tumor visualization in fluorescence-guided surgery), pHLIP® 18F (a PET imaging agent), and therapeutic pHLIP® Drug Conjugates including CBX-12 (alphalex™-exatecan, a peptide-drug conjugate in clinical development). The platform technology enables three delivery mechanisms: targeting and anchoring payloads to acidic cell surfaces, cytoplasmic delivery of therapeutic cargoes across cell membranes, and decoration of nanoparticles for enhanced uptake. pHLIP® ICG is in Phase I/IIa clinical trials for breast cancer surgery, while CBX-12 (via sublicensee Cybrexa Therapeutics) is in Phase I/II trials for solid tumors and ovarian cancer.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• pHLIP® ICG
• pHLIP® 18F (18F-Var3)
• CBX-12 (alphalex™-exatecan)
• pHLIP-LNP Targeted Delivery Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Low pH targeting of solid tumors demonstrated in human clinical trials
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• CordenPharma InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 January 2024Strategic alliance to develop and commercialize the pHLIP-LNP targeted delivery platform for RNA-based and genetic therapeutics. The alliance combines CordenPharma's proprietary Lipid NanoParticle (LNP) technology and GMP manufacturing expertise with pHLIP's targeted delivery technology. They will formulate pHLIP-coated LNPs for mRNA-based and gene therapy payloads to treat cancer, inflammation, and genetic diseases. CordenPharma serves as CDMO supplier for GMP manufacture of pHLIP peptides and drug conjugates.
• Cybrexa TherapeuticscoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerCybrexa Therapeutics is a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company and key sublicensee holding exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to use pHLIP peptides in the development of oncology therapeutics including DNA damage repair inhibitors and cytotoxic molecules. Cybrexa is developing CBX-12 (alphalex-exatecan) which completed Phase I and is in Phase II trials for ovarian cancer. Cybrexa was founded in 2017 and is based in New Haven, Connecticut.
• Yale UniversitycoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology licensor. The pHLIP technology was developed at Yale University. Yale has granted pHLIP, Inc exclusive worldwide commercial rights to the linear and cyclic pH peptides patent families. The technology originated from studies of protein folding in bacteriorhodopsin at Yale.
• University of Rhode IslandcoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology licensor and co-developer. The pHLIP technology was developed at the University of Rhode Island in collaboration with Yale. URI has granted exclusive worldwide commercial rights to composition of matter and methods of use of pHLIP compounds. Founders of the company are from URI.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CentercoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology licensor and clinical trial partner. MSKCC has granted exclusive worldwide commercial rights for composition of matter and methods of use of pHLIP compounds. MSKCC serves as the primary clinical trial site for pHLIP ICG fluorescence-guided surgery trials.
• Charles RiversupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerMaster Service Agreement for non-GLP and GLP animal efficacy and toxicology studies of pHLIP Drug Conjugates. Charles River is a global provider of essential products and services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for research and drug development.
• Iris Biotech GmbHsupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerMaster Development and Supply Agreement for non-GMP synthesis of pHLIP Drug Conjugates. Iris Biotech is a qualified supplier of specialized linker constructs and compounds for peptide chemistry and drug conjugate synthesis.
• Stryker CorpsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in fluorescence-guided surgery clinical trials with pHLIP ICG imaging agent at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Stryker provides imaging technology support for the Phase I/IIa clinical trial.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Mersana Therapeutics: Clinical-stage company developing next-generation ADCs, including Dolasynthen and Immunosynthen platforms, for oncology. Comparable to pHLIP because both are pursuing differentiated linker/payload and targeting approaches to expand the addressable patient population beyond conventional ADCs.
• Philogen: Clinical-stage biopharma developing targeted antibody and peptide therapeutics (e.g., Fibromun/L19-IL2, Nidlegy) for oncology and inflammation. Comparable to pHLIP because both use peptide/protein scaffolds to selectively localize therapeutics to diseased tissues.
• Bicycle Therapeutics: Clinical-stage company developing bicyclic peptide conjugates (Bicycles) for targeted cancer therapy, including BT8009 and other toxin conjugates. Closely comparable to pHLIP because both use constrained peptide scaffolds to deliver cytotoxic payloads selectively to tumors.
• CytomX Therapeutics: Clinical-stage oncology company developing Probody therapeutics — antibody-based constructs that are masked and conditionally activated in the tumor microenvironment. Comparable to pHLIP because both rely on tumor-microenvironment-selective activation (pHLIP via pH; CytomX via protease cleavage) to enable targeted cancer therapy.
• Cybrexa Therapeutics: Clinical-stage biopharma developing peptide-drug conjugates using the pHLIP platform; pHLIP's exclusive oncology sublicensee and the developer of CBX-12, which is partnered with Exelixis. Most directly comparable company because it operates the lead clinical asset based on pHLIP technology.

Broad incumbents

• Lantheus Holdings: Established commercial radiopharmaceuticals and diagnostic imaging company (Pylarify, DEFINITY, etc.). Comparable to pHLIP's imaging-agent franchise (pHLIP ICG, pHLIP 18F) because both develop targeted diagnostic imaging agents, though Lantheus is a larger incumbent with commercial products.
• Telix Pharmaceuticals: Commercial-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing diagnostic and therapeutic agents (e.g., Illuccix for PSMA-PET imaging). Comparable to pHLIP's imaging programs because both pursue targeted nuclear imaging for cancer, though Telix is much larger and has approved products.

Emerging players

• Avidity Biosciences: Clinical-stage company developing antibody-RNA conjugates for targeted RNA delivery to muscle, heart, and other tissues. Comparable to pHLIP because both are developing targeted delivery platforms that localize payloads to specific tissues — Avidity via antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates, pHLIP via pH-sensitive peptides.
• Cellectar Biosciences: Clinical-stage company developing phospholipid drug conjugates (PDCs) that target cancer cells via lipid raft-mediated uptake. Comparable to pHLIP because both use alternative targeting scaffolds (lipid vs. peptide) and exploit cancer-cell-selective mechanisms to deliver cytotoxic payloads.

Others

• CordenPharma International: Global CDMO specializing in peptides, LNPs, and complex APIs, and pHLIP's strategic alliance partner for pHLIP-LNP development. Comparable because CordenPharma is the manufacturing backbone that enables pHLIP's GMP peptide and LNP programs, providing context for pHLIP's operational model rather than direct product competition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors

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 pHLIP