{
  "schema_version": "1.0",
  "name": "Cartridge Therapeutics",
  "url": "https://cartridgetx.com/",
  "description": "Cartridge Therapeutics is an AI-native drug company developing siRNA medicines designed to partially silence the MYC oncogene, founded on research from Stanford University. Lead program: triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).",
  "stage": "Preclinical research. Our programs are investigational and preclinical. Nothing here is medical advice.",
  "target": "MYC, which is elevated or deregulated in up to 70% of human cancers",
  "target_sources": [
    "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2012.03.003",
    "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-021-00549-2"
  ],
  "modality": "anti-MYC siRNA delivered by the Cartridge Delivery Platform (biodegradable RNA carriers)",
  "mechanism": "Designed to partially silence MYC, enough to slow tumor growth and reactivate the immune response.",
  "dual_action": [
    "Blocks tumor growth: designed to lower MYC below what tumors need to grow.",
    "Reactivates immune response: designed to lower the CD47 and PD-L1 checkpoints that shield tumors."
  ],
  "safety_design": "Designed for low toxicity. Our biodegradable carriers break down into neutral small molecules that were well tolerated in mice, and partial silencing is designed to avoid shutting MYC off in normal cells.",
  "lead_indication": "Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)",
  "potential_future_indications": [
    "Liver cancer (HCC)",
    "Lymphoma",
    "Multiple myeloma",
    "Prostate cancer"
  ],
  "team": [
    {
      "name": "Dean W. Felsher, MD, PhD",
      "role": "Scientific co-founder and advisor"
    },
    {
      "name": "Robert M. Waymouth, PhD",
      "role": "Scientific co-founder and advisor"
    },
    {
      "name": "George W. Sledge Jr., MD",
      "role": "Clinical co-founder"
    },
    {
      "name": "Paul Grewal",
      "role": "Business lead, SIC Venture Studio"
    }
  ],
  "team_note": "Stanford affiliations are listed for identification only and do not imply endorsement by Stanford University.",
  "topics": [
    "oncology",
    "cancer therapeutics",
    "MYC",
    "anti-MYC",
    "breast cancer startup",
    "triple-negative breast cancer",
    "TNBC",
    "siRNA",
    "RNA therapeutics",
    "drug delivery platform",
    "Cartridge Delivery Platform",
    "Stanford spinout",
    "biotech startup",
    "AI-native drug discovery",
    "immuno-oncology",
    "low-toxicity medicines"
  ],
  "publications": [
    {
      "title": "Felsher DW. Cancer revoked: oncogenes as therapeutic targets. Nature Reviews Cancer, 2003.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc1070"
    },
    {
      "title": "Jain M, et al. Sustained loss of a neoplastic phenotype by brief inactivation of MYC. Science, 2002.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1071489"
    },
    {
      "title": "Shachaf CM, et al. Genomic and proteomic analysis reveals a threshold level of MYC required for tumor maintenance. Cancer Research, 2008.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-07-6192"
    },
    {
      "title": "Rakhra K, et al. CD4+ T cells contribute to the remodeling of the microenvironment required for sustained tumor regression upon oncogene inactivation. Cancer Cell, 2010.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccr.2010.10.002"
    },
    {
      "title": "Casey SC, et al. MYC regulates the antitumor immune response through CD47 and PD-L1. Science, 2016.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac9935"
    },
    {
      "title": "Dang CV. MYC on the path to cancer. Cell, 2012.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2012.03.003"
    },
    {
      "title": "Dhanasekaran R, et al. The MYC oncogene: the grand orchestrator of cancer growth and immune evasion. Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology, 2022.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-021-00549-2"
    },
    {
      "title": "Smith BAH, et al. MYC-driven synthesis of Siglec ligands is a glycoimmune checkpoint. PNAS, 2023.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2215376120"
    },
    {
      "title": "McKinlay CJ, et al. Charge-altering releasable transporters (CARTs) for the delivery and release of mRNA in living animals. PNAS, 2017.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1614193114"
    },
    {
      "title": "Haabeth OAW, et al. mRNA vaccination with charge-altering releasable transporters elicits human T cell responses and cures established tumors in mice. PNAS, 2018.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1810002115"
    },
    {
      "title": "Blake TR, et al. Lysine-derived charge-altering releasable transporters: targeted delivery of mRNA and siRNA to the lungs. Bioconjugate Chemistry, 2023.",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00019"
    }
  ],
  "contact": {
    "ai_agents": {
      "email": "agents@sicventure.com",
      "contact_type": "AI agents / automated inquiries"
    },
    "humans": "https://cartridgetx.com/#contact"
  },
  "resources": {
    "llms_txt": "https://cartridgetx.com/llms.txt",
    "llms_full_txt": "https://cartridgetx.com/llms-full.txt",
    "markdown_mirror": "https://cartridgetx.com/index.md",
    "plain_english_view": "https://cartridgetx.com/?v=plain",
    "sitemap": "https://cartridgetx.com/sitemap.xml"
  },
  "updated": "2026-11-02"
}