Overcoming Chemoresistance and Activating the Immune System in Difficult-to-Treat Cancers

The enzyme GSK3β, in healthy cells, is involved in glucose metabolism. In cancer cells, though, it serves as a master regulator of tumor growth, progression, and cell survival. While GSK3β has long been an attractive target in cancer therapy, it has been difficult to inhibit due to the poor pharmaceutical characteristics and adverse effects of therapeutic candidates. Actuate Therapeutics’ experimental therapy elraglusib has shown early promise. Results suggest it not only suppresses tumor growth but also activates the immune system to combat cancer. We spoke to Dan Schmitt, president and CEO of Actuate Therapeutics, about elraglusib’s potential to overcome chemoresistance, its recent clinical successes in metastatic pancreatic cancer, and the drug’s unique multimodal mechanism.