Nodality is a venture capital-funded biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, dedicated to using advanced biological characterization technology to improve the treatment of patients with cancer. The company is based on proprietary flow cytometry technology which was developed in the laboratory of Professor Garry Nolan and licensed from Stanford University. Flow cytometry has been widely used to characterize cell surface markers on hematological cells. At Nodality this technology has been taken to the next level, utilizing advanced quantitative flow cytometry to characterize the signaling networks within individual cancer cells in order to enable biologically-driven clinical decision making for cancer treatment. Specific antibodies are used to quantitatively measure the phosphoproteins of internal cell signaling paths; each patient’s cancer cells have a distinct signaling signature consequent to the genetic and epigenetic changes leading to the malignant state. As a first example of the application of this approach this signature has been found to relate to treatment responsiveness in patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML), and the company is initially focused on developing tests to predict whether a particular patient is likely to respond to conventional AML treatment, or should be offered alternative treatment approaches.

The goal of Nodality technology is therefore to inform clinical decisions in newly diagnosed patients – whether to treat a particular malignancy, and if treatment is indicated, to instruct on preferred treatments, as well as to provide a rational and sensitive way of monitoring patients after therapy. While AML is the first classical disease target, the same approach is being expanded across the range of hematological malignancies, and in future will be extended to the entire breadth of human malignancy, including the much more common solid tumors.

Nodality has a strong internal discovery research capability supported by numerous academic interactions, and has recently made strong hires to strengthen clinical development, intellectual property management, regulated product development, business development and marketing.

Beyond its potential to improve clinical decision-making in oncology, the technology has powerful applications to the drug development process, and Nodality is entering into strategic interactions with selected pharma and biotech partners. Use of Nodality technology will provide competitive advantage in many of the steps of therapeutics development, and provide significant regulatory and reimbursement advantages related to the improved therapeutic index associated with using the most effective therapeutic approach in a particular patient.

In 2008, Nodality secured Series B funding from Maverick Capital and Pfizer in addition to the original Series A participants Kleiner Perkins Caulfield and Byers together with TPG Biotechnology. While initially being applied by Nodality to improve the treatment of malignant disease, this proprietary technology can also be applied to the diagnosis and management of patients as well as therapeutics development for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.