Stacks Therapeutics company information, Employees & Contact Information

Stacks Therapeutics aims to selectively control and modulate G-Quadruplex (GQs) structures through our antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) platform. GQs are unique secondary structures that are highly conserved in DNA promoters. Over 80% of promoters have GQs and the vast majority have been shown to have an important role in gene transcription. At the molecular level, GQs are dynamic structures moving between their unfolded and folded states. Further stabilization or destabilization can exaggerate the role of the GQ leading to the controllability of downstream gene products. Current drugs targeting GQs are small molecules with no specificity towards one GQ or another. Our platform is designed to specifically modulate GQ stability on a single molecule level, improving upon off-target and therapeutic effectiveness. The upregulation of genes is viewed as a major challenge with existing technologies. Stacks Tx unique platform and approach can overcome this. Our lead asset, STX-101 targets a GQ within the tyrosine hydroxylase promoter, the rate-limiting enzyme for dopamine synthesis. These have been shown to up and down-regulate expression in a dose-dependent manner and in turn modulate dopamine production. STX-101 has further been evaluated as a treatment for Parkinson’s where in vivo studies have displayed increases in TH expression in rat brains. This strategy can improve upon current therapies for dopamine replacement where over 90% of Parkinson’s patients wear off to SOC. The dopamine-modulating effects of STX-101/102 provide an opportunity to address numerous additional neurological disorders including schizophrenia, depression, and PTSD. We believe GQs are an undervalued target and are currently developing new ASOs within our GQ targeting platform to precisely regulate gene expression across several other diseases with unmet needs.