About Us
Step Pharma is pioneering a novel class of oral drugs that specifically inhibit the enzyme cytidine triphosphate synthase 1 (CTPS1).
Watch the leadership team discuss our lead CTPS1 inhibitor STP938
Leadership Team
Step Pharma is led by a highly motivated management team and an exceptional syndicate of international investors, all driven to bring about a step change in cancer treatment for patients.
We are a group of like-minded, experienced executives, biotechnology entrepreneurs and drug developers who have come together to bring dencatistat to the clinic as fast as possible, drawing on our prior experience of developing and commercialising life-saving treatments.
Our vision is to redefine how cancer is treated and bring our targeted therapy to patients as soon as possible.
Step Pharma’s management team has more than 50 years of collective experience in successfully developing and commercialising breakthrough cancer treatments. We bring together a range of drug discovery and development, regulatory, clinical and operational expertise in biotech and pharma.
Oncology Clinical Advisory Board
Steven M. Horwitz, MD
Steven M. Horwitz, MD is an Attending Physician in the Department of Medicine at Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases and a Member in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.He earned his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital, and then completed a fellowship in medical oncology at Stanford University Medical Center.
His current research is dedicated to identifying better treatments for individuals with T cell lymphoma including understanding mechanisms of response and resistance to novel drugs in T cell lymphoma. Dr. Horwitz participates in several national, and international committees and consortiums dedicated to the understanding and advancement of treatment for T cell lymphoma.
Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD
Stephen M. Ansell, MD, PhD is a consultant in the Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic. He serves as the chair of faculty development and recruitment for the Division of Hematology, and as the chair of the Lymphoma Group in the Division of Hematology.
He earned his MB, ChB degree and completed an internal medicine/surgery internship at University of Pretoria in South Africa. He holds specific expertise in T cell lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma and is also an expert in transplantation of lymphoma.
Jean-Pierre Bizzari, MD
Jean-Pierre Bizzari, MD is a world-renowned oncology expert who served as Executive Vice-President, Group Head, and Clinical Oncology Development (U.S., Europe, and Asia/Japan) at Celgene from 2008 to 2015.
He is an active board member in various biotech companies and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the French National Cancer Institute (INCa) and European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) and Chairman of the New Drug Advisory Committee. Dr Bizzari holds a medical degree specialized in oncology from the University of Nice.
Kapil Dhingra, MD
Kapil Dhingra, MD has more than 30 years of experience in oncology clinical research and drug development within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
He previously served as Vice President, Head of the Oncology Disease Biology Leadership Team and Head of Oncology Clinical Development at Hoffmann-La Roche, during which time he led numerous drug approvals. Prior to Roche, he worked in the oncology clinical development group at Eli Lilly and Company. He is now a board member of several successful biotechnology companies.
Dr Dhingra obtained his M.B.B.S. degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, New York Medical College, and completed his fellowship in hematology and oncology at Emory University School of Medicine.
Scientific Advisory Board
Prof. Alain Fischer
Alain Fischer is an internationally recognized expert in the genetics of immunological disorders, primarily immunodeficiency diseases, and the development of the lymphoid system.
In 2000 he was the first to obtain clinical success with gene therapy for the treatment of children affected by SCID disease (“bubble babies”) for which he was awarded the Louis Jeantet Prize for Medicine (2001), the INSERM “Grand Prix” (2008) and the Japan Prize in 2015. He is the author of more than 600 publications and until 2016 was the Head of the Imagine Institute where he still contributes actively to fundamental and clinical research.
+
Dr Christophe Benoist
Christophe Benoist is the Morton Grove-Rasmussen Professor of Immunology at Harvard Medical School.
He received his MD from the Université Paris Diderot, and his PhD in Molecular Biology at Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. After training with Pierre Chambon as a molecular biologist in transcriptional regulation (Ovalbumin, SV40), Dr. Benoist switched to molecular immunology as a post-doctoral fellow with Hugh McDevitt in Stanford, where he participated in the first cloning of class-II genes of the Major Histocompatibility Complex.
He returned to France at the end of 1983, establishing a joint laboratory with Dr. Diane Mathis at the LGME (later IGBMC) in Strasbourg. In 1999, the Mathis/Benoist lab moved to the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston. The lab joined the HMS Pathology Department in 2009.
+
Prof. Iain McInnes
Professor Iain McInnes is one of the leading figures in global research into rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis. He has been widely published – and his work has been hugely influential in driving new approaches and treatments for inflammatory diseases.Iain is Vice-Principal and Head of College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He is an authority on the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory arthritis.
His early studies identified the expression and functional importance of a number of cytokines in rheumatoid synovitis and have extended since to explore the pathways that drive inflammation in the skin and joints of people with psoriatic arthritis. Latterly he has developed a substantial programme investigating the mechanisms and treatment of common co-morbidities e.g. heart disease and lipid disorders, that afflict people with arthritis.
+
Tim Wright, MD
Tim Wright, M.D. is a general partner of Time BioVentures.
Over a career spanning academic research, clinical medicine, big pharma, and biotech, Dr. Wright has guided the development of twenty breakthrough drugs now on the market, including 10 blockbusters that have each sold over $1 billion annually.
He brings a deep expertise in translational science and commercialization, as well as an understanding of the dynamics of the private and public biotech markets
+
Heritage
2014
CTPS1 mutations genetically characterised by Prof. Alain Fischer and Dr. Sylvain Latour at the Imagine Institute in Paris, France
2014
2014
Step Pharma founded in Paris, France, by VC Kurma Partners, in collaboration with Sygnature Discovery
June 2014
2017
14.5 million raised from existing and new investors (Bpifrance and Pontifa)
21 November 2017
2019
Andrew Parker appointed CEO
6 September 2019
2020
Company headquarters relocation to Region Auvergne Rhônes Alpes
2020
2021
Awarded ‘First-in-class therapeutic innovation’ during the 6th MEET2WIN Oncology Convention
11 May 2021
2021
Series B financing of EUR35 million raised, includes new investors Hadean Ventures and Sunstone Life Science Ventures
24 March 2021
2022
STP938 receives CTA/IND approval and enters clinical development in lymphoma
June/July 2022
2023
Loss of CTPS2 in solid tumours is identified as a synthetic lethal effect conferring sensitivity to CTPS1 inhibition
2024
STP938 named dencatistat; receives IND approval and enters clinical development for solid tumours with an initial focus on ovarian cancer
Investors
Step Pharma is backed by a strong syndicate of leading international investors with a track record for success, turning breakthrough science into transformative approved medicines.
Partners
We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with others to bring our transformative targeted cancer treatment to market, as well as explore other applications for CTPS1 inhibition.
Step Pharma
15 rue Louis et Auguste Lumière
Technoparc du Pays-de-Gex
01630 Saint-Genis-Pouilly
France
