META Pharmaceuticals Inc.

META Pharmaceuticals Inc. (META) is a VC-backed early-stage company that utilizes metabolism's power to modulate different cellular systems (immune system, metabolic networks) to treat various diseases, including a broad range of autoimmune diseases, metabolic syndrome (rare disease), and cancer. We are one of the few companies in the world that is developing first-in-class metabolic inhibitors, and we call metabolic checkpoint blockade. Our core target, a glycolytic enzyme, META-1 (code name), represents a distinct double-opportunity for autoimmune diseases and a clearly defined metabolic disorder. Our META-1 inhibitor can potentially become the next-gen oral autoimmune treatment with better efficacy and a safer profile. Meanwhile, the META-1 enzyme also lies in the center of a pathological pathway that leads to the occurrence of a rare kidney disease, which enables us to create the first-ever small molecule for this life-threatening metabolic disorder. META builds two distinct molecules for each direction and has made significant progress. We have identified our preclinical compound for the rare kidney disease. We plan to initiate Phase 1a in 2025Q1 and have confidently designed an accelerated route to human PoC by the end 2025. The mortality rate for this indication is very high, suggesting a substantial unmet clinical market for at least 3 billion USD NPV for our META-1 small molecule inhibitor. We are in the lead optimization phase for the autoimmune program and have several chemical series with impressive in vitro and in vivo efficacy. We have tested these molecules in various autoimmune animal models, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease.