What Salarius Pharmaceuticals does

Decoy Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: DCOY), formerly Salarius Pharmaceuticals, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that builds antiviral drugs using its IMP³ACT platform, an AI-enabled peptide conjugate discovery engine that produces D-MAVs (Designable Multi-Antivirals) intended to act on shared viral fusion mechanisms across multiple viral families. The lead programs are a pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitor currently in preclinical development and a tripledemic program covering influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and RSV at the discovery stage, with a near-term focus on immunocompromised patients who lack adequate protection from existing vaccines (a US population the company sizes above 10 million). Legacy Salarius assets — the LSD1 inhibitor seclidemstat and the protein degrader SP-3164 — remain in the corporate estate but are secondary to the new antiviral strategy.

The company's technology stack combines computational design (Google Cloud, NVIDIA Inception, Quantori collaborations) with peptide chemistry developed under MIT scientific advisors Brad Pentelute and Robert Langer, and biological validation in collaboration with Texas Biomedical Research Institute (H5N1 animal-model work) and hVIVO (human challenge studies). The platform is intended to address seasonal and pandemic respiratory viruses, with stated intent to pursue a Global Access Commitment for low- and middle-income countries.

The business model is currently non-commercial and pre-revenue. Capital has been raised through equity issuance — including an $8 million public offering completed alongside the November 2025 merger — and through non-dilutive funding from sources including BARDA (via the DRIVe program and Blue Knight with J&J Innovation) and the Gates Foundation. The company trades as a micro-cap public entity (valuation in the $1M-$4M range across the analysis window) with a headcount of 1-10 employees, and has executed a 1-for-12 reverse stock split and Nasdaq rebrand to DCOY in January 2026. Customers, in the near term, are effectively funding partners and contract research organizations rather than end patients or payors.

Name

Salarius Pharmaceuticals

Legal name

Decoy Therapeutics, Inc.

Website

https://salariuspharma.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Decoy Therapeutics (formerly Salarius Pharmaceuticals) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing AI-enabled peptide conjugate antivirals (D-MAVs) against respiratory viruses, with a preclinical pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitor and a discovery-stage Flu/COVID/RSV program aimed primarily at immunocompromised patients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Antiviral Therapeutics (Peptide-Conjugate Biopharmaceuticals)

NAICS

Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

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

akta.pro primary industry

Infectious Disease Specialty Pharmaceuticals (Non-vaccine) (HLAIACAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Infectious Disease & Antimicrobials Pharmaceuticals (HLAIAAAG), Lead Optimization & Preclinical Candidate Selection (HLAIALAB)

Keywords

• Peptide conjugate therapeutics
• Antiviral drug development
• AI-enabled drug discovery
• Oncology biopharmaceuticals
• Clinical-stage biotechnology

Headquarters

HQ city

Houston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical development: Pre-revenue clinical-stage company developing peptide conjugate therapeutics for antiviral and oncology applications. Revenue expected from future drug commercialization.
2. Strategic partnerships and collaborations: Company pursues non-dilutive grant funding and development partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, technology leaders, and academic institutions to fund pipeline advancement.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Salarius Pharmaceuticals (now Decoy Therapeutics Inc.) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing peptide-conjugate therapeutics through its proprietary IMP³ACT platform, which combines AI-enabled computational design with rapid synthesis and manufacturing. The company's lead programs are a nasally inhaled pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitor (preclinical) targeting 10M+ immunocompromised patients in the U.S., and a broad respiratory antiviral (discovery) targeting Flu/COVID/RSV, alongside legacy oncology assets seclidemstat and SP-3164.

Product overview

Salarius Pharmaceuticals, which rebranded as Decoy Therapeutics Inc. in January 2026 following its November 2025 merger with Decoy Therapeutics, operates as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on peptide-conjugate therapeutics. The company is pioneering Designable Multi-Antivirals (D-MAVs) built on its proprietary IMP³ACT platform, which integrates AI-enabled computational design with rapid peptide synthesis and manufacturing. The lead programs include a pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitor for immunocompromised patients and a broad respiratory antiviral targeting the 'tripledemic' (Flu/COVID/RSV). Legacy assets include seclidemstat (LSD1 inhibitor for sarcomas) and SP-3164 (targeted protein degrader for cancer).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• IMP3ACT Platform: Proprietary peptide conjugate platform integrating AI-enabled design with rapid synthesis and manufacturing for antiviral development.
• D-MAVs (Designable Multi-Antivirals)

Products and services

• IMP³ACT Platform Proprietary peptide conjugate platform that integrates AI-enabled design with rapid synthesis and manufacturing, enabling a repeatable and scalable approach to antiviral and oncology therapeutic development using Designable Multi-Antivirals (D-MAVs).
• Pan-Coronavirus Fusion Inhibitor Broad-acting fusion inhibitor targeting SARS-CoV-2 and all other human coronaviruses; self-administered nasally inhaled pan-coronavirus fusion inhibitor with in vitro efficacy against all known human coronaviruses including all COVID-19 variants; expected to offer 8-24 hours of prophylactic protection and moderate disease severity when used post-infection. Currently in preclinical development.
• Broad Respiratory Antiviral (Tripledemic Program) Single antiviral designed to treat the 'big three' respiratory viruses (Flu, COVID, RSV) responsible for 70%+ of dangerous virally-driven lower respiratory tract infections; uses the same mechanism of action and computational models as the pan-coronavirus program; targets a $15B+ commercial opportunity. Currently in discovery stage.
• Designable Multi-Antivirals (D-MAVs) New category of antivirals engineered to target shared viral mechanisms conserved across viruses, designed to enable a single multi-use drug to work against multiple viral threats and move beyond the traditional one-virus, one-drug model.
• SP-3164 Targeted Protein Degrader acquired from DeuteRx in 2022 for cancer treatment development; acquired along with related Targeted Protein Degraders as part of a strategic asset purchase.
• Seclidemstat LSD1 inhibitor originally developed by Salarius for sarcomas and hematologic cancers, now licensed to Decoy Therapeutics; used in combination studies with PARP inhibitors for BAP1-mutated cancers including bile duct cancer, renal cell carcinoma, mesothelioma, and uveal melanoma.

Quantifiable outcome

• In vitro efficacy against all known human coronaviruses including all variants of COVID-19
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• hVIVOcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Partnership to advance Decoy's lead D-MAV candidate into the clinic. hVIVO will provide clinical development expertise and facilities for early-stage clinical testing of the pan-coronavirus antiviral program.
• QuantoricoreTechnology or Integration · 11 March 2026Strategic partnership to deploy Google Cloud-native integrated AI-driven peptide design and molecular simulation platform. Quantori will help advance Decoy's computational infrastructure for AI-enabled peptide conjugate drug discovery.
• Global Access Commitment PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 January 2026Global Access Commitment Agreement focused on development of a globally accessible, scalable peptide-conjugate manufacturing platform to ensure broad availability of therapeutics in low-resource settings.
• Texas Biomedical Research InstitutesecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Collaboration to test peptide conjugate fusion inhibitors for influenza, including H5N1 avian flu. Leverages in silico testing and in vitro virology capabilities to evaluate inhibitors' activity across multiple influenza strains.
• Google CloudcoreTechnology or Integration · 15 May 2025Featured by Google Cloud as a customer case study for scaling AI-driven drug discovery. Deepened partnership includes AI infrastructure support and computational capabilities.
• Robert S. Langer (MIT Professor)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 April 2025Renowned MIT professor and scientific advisor joining Decoy Therapeutics' Scientific Advisory Board bringing expertise in drug delivery and biotech innovation.
• NVIDIA Inception ProgramsecondaryTechnology or Integration · 1 June 2024Accepted into NVIDIA Inception Program to build AI drug discovery platform using NVIDIA GPUs for computational chemistry and molecular simulation.
• Blue Knight (J&J Innovation + BARDA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 August 2023Awardee in BLUE KNIGHT QuickFire Challenge: Accelerating Project NextGen. Partnership with Johnson & Johnson Innovation and BARDA for antiviral development. Blue Knight is a joint initiative between J&J Innovation - JLABS and BARDA.
• Google for Startups Cloud ProgramcoreTechnology or Integration · 28 July 2023Joined Google for Startups Cloud Program gaining $350,000 USD in compute credits over 2 years to build AI drug discovery platform. Google Cloud featured Decoy Therapeutics for scaling AI-driven drug discovery.
• MIT Startup Exchange (STEX25)secondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 January 2023Joined MIT Startup Exchange STEX25 program to further broad-acting antivirals program and access MIT innovation ecosystem resources and partnerships.
• Creative Destruction LabsecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2021Entered Creative Destruction Lab program 2021-2022 to accelerate peptide conjugate therapies development with mentorship and scientific expertise.
• Brad Pentelute (MIT Professor of Chemistry)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMIT Professor Brad Pentelute serves as Technology Advisor and was appointed Chair of Scientific Advisory Board in May 2026. Brings expertise in peptide therapeutics and chemistry.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Vir Biotechnology: Clinical-stage immunology company developing antiviral treatments including broadly neutralizing antibodies and small molecules targeting coronaviruses, influenza, and RSV—directly overlapping with Decoy's pan-coronavirus and tripledemic programs.
• Atea Pharmaceuticals: Pursues direct-acting antiviral development for RNA viruses including COVID-19, hepatitis C, and RSV with an emphasis on combination oral therapies—closely mirroring Decoy's pan-coronavirus and respiratory antiviral pipeline.
• Cocrystal Pharma: Clinical-stage antiviral company developing inhibitors targeting coronaviruses, influenza, and norovirus using structure-based drug design—a directly comparable therapeutic area and approach to Decoy's D-MAV platform.
• NanoViricides: Clinical-stage company developing nanoviricide broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics for influenza, COVID-19, and other viral infections, pursuing a similar pan-antiviral thesis though via a different chemistry modality.
• Pardes Biosciences: Was a direct antiviral peer developing oral COVID-19 protease inhibitors with an emphasis on pan-coronavirus coverage before its 2023 acquisition by Gilead; representative of the strategic category Decoy competes in.

Broad incumbents

• Pfizer: Markets Paxlovid, the $2B+/year oral COVID-19 antiviral that Decoy's pan-coronavirus candidate is explicitly positioned against, and a large incumbent across infectious disease and oncology.
• Gilead Sciences: Major antiviral incumbent with Veklury (remdesivir) for COVID-19 and a broad HIV/HCV franchise; now also owns Pardes Biosciences, directly overlapping Decoy's antiviral positioning.
• Moderna: Large biopharmaceutical company with mRNA-based vaccines and therapeutics targeting respiratory viruses including COVID-19 and influenza—an adjacent modality competing for the same immunocompromised and respiratory virus markets.

Emerging players

• Insilico Medicine: AI-driven drug discovery company combining generative biology, chemistry, and clinical development for both antivirals and oncology—directly comparable to Decoy's AI-enabled IMP³ACT platform positioning.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Techbio company using AI, high-throughput biology, and proprietary datasets to discover novel therapeutics across virology, oncology, and rare disease—relevant comparator for Decoy's AI-enabled antiviral discovery strategy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/decoy-therapeutics-inc
• Xx.com/SalariusPharma

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles13 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds10 records

Investors3 records

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

M&A2 records

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Salarius Pharmaceuticals