Revolution starts here
The focus of cancer therapy is moving towards precision medicine. However, very few efficacious therapies are available for sarcomas. There is a clear unmet medical need as tumours frequently develop resistance to current therapies leading to treatment failure and disease progression. We are committed to delivering innovative therapeutic options for patients who have no specific therapies or have failed all currently available options.
Innovative drugs
Sartar uses principles of precision medicine, drug repurposing and reformulation to provide efficacious cancer therapies faster to the global markets.
Sartar Therapeutics is developing a new precision cancer treatment, SAR003, for soft tissue sarcomas, SAR003 specifically targets phosphodiesterase 3 -protein expressing tumours.
SAR003 is based on drug reformulation and repositioning of anagrelide, and has a long-acting profile that shows superior pharmacokinetic properties over oral administration, making it better tolerated and more convenient for use in therapy.
Rare life-threatening cancers
Soft-tissue sarcomas represent a rare and heterogenous group of mesenchymal tumors, accounting for 1 % of all adult cancers and more than 7 % of all pediatric cancers. Approximately 0.4 % of people will be diagnosed with a soft-tissue sarcoma during their lifetime.
Localized tumors can be treated with surgery and radiotherapy, but few, if any efficacious therapies are available for patients with metastatic tumors; the 5-year survival is 10 – 50 %.
Our operative team
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Mikael Maksimow, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer Mikael Maksimow has Master’s Degree in Biotechnology and Ph.D. in Immunology. Mikael has a long experience in early drug development from discovery stages to clinical trials, as well as experience in startup business development.
QUALITY DIRECTOR
Maria Lahtinen, Ph.D.
Quality Director Maria Lahtinen has Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Engineering and Management and Ph.D. in Chemistry. Maria has a long experience in various drug development activities from laboratory to clinical trials.
Board of Directors
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
Harri Sihto, Ph.D.
The Chairman of the Board, Dr. Harri Sihto is a founding member of the Company. He is a biochemist, who received his Ph.D. degree in 2012 and was awarded with title of Adjunct Professor of Cancer Biology in 2015 at the University of Helsinki. Dr. Sihto’s research group investigates novel therapy targets in sarcomas and other rare cancers to discover new therapeutic options for the patients.
PROFESSOR
Olli Kallioniemi, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor Olli Kallioniemi is a founder and board member of Sartar Therapeutics. Professor Kallioniemi is an expert in a precision medicine. As a founding director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), he had a crucial role in building a national research infrastructure required for precision medicine research. Now Prof. Kallioniemi is appointed as Director of SciLifeLab, a national center of molecular biosciences organized by Karolinska Institute, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University and Uppsala University in Sweden. Prof. Kallioniemi has 389 publications that are cited 40,000 times, as well as 20 patents. Prof. Kallioniemi brings invaluable insights on precision medicine strategies and development to the company.
BOARD MEMBER
Jyrki Mattila, M.D., Ph.D., MBA
Jyrki Mattila’s career in the pharma & biotech space spans for over forty years in Europe and in the U.S. Prior to moving to the U.S., Mattila served as the President of Orion Pharma. In the U.S, Mattila has served in several executive positions from startups to multi-billion dollar Nasdaq-listed companies. Mattila brings to the company valuable insights and connections to the U.S. market.
BOARD MEMBER
Jami Mandelin, Ph.D.
Jami Mandelin has a strong background in the pharmaceutical industry and in academic research. Prior to his current position at Helsinki Innovation Services, Mandelin worked at Faron Pharmaceuticals supervising scientific collaboration in early drug discovery, leading drug development and preclinical research as well as overseeing manufacturing including analytics and formulation studies. Jami has developed biomarker programs for clinical trials and has hands on experience in regulatory activities, in developing and launching companion diagnostics and in clinical research from early clinical trials to pivotal studies.