Eris Biotech
Our drugs engage the immune system to fight tumors
About us
Hello 👋 We’re Evita and Rachel, co-founders of Eris Biotech. We met working at the same lab at BYU when Evita was a Ph.D. student and Rachel was an undergrad. We collaborated on a peer-reviewed paper and conference presentations, and we’ve been friends since! Rachel went on to Dartmouth for her Ph.D. and later worked at a startup developing cell therapies. Evita went on for a postdoc and a career in drug development in big pharma. Rachel has developed multiple novel therapies for patients and Evita has brought numerous drugs to the clinic. We’re excited to bring our expertise together to build a first-in-class treatment that follows our mission to aggressively fights cancer, but also improve the patient experience.
Our Backstory
Evita, working in drug development, saw promising cancer drugs fail because they were simply too toxic. Rachel, in cell therapy, saw the same problem as treatments that worked in principle caused too much collateral damage. Both realized that the real issue was not just the drugs themselves but the way most cancer treatments rely on toxic approaches that also wipe out our best weapon against cancer, the immune system. Tumor immune evasion is one of cancer’s greatest strengths, yet few were tackling it head-on. We founded Eris Biotech to change that and to develop therapies that stop tumors from hiding and reawaken the immune system.
The Problem
One of cancer’s greatest weapons is its ability to hide from the immune system. Tumors release billions of tiny vesicles that contain “don’t attack me signals” and shut down the immune system, blinding it to their presence. This immune evasion lets cancer spread unchecked while most current treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation, and even some immunotherapies, further weaken the body’s natural defenses.
Our Solution
Eris Biotech develops small-molecule drugs that prevent tumors from forming and releasing immune-suppressing tiny vesicles. By stopping this process, we remove cancer’s disguise, restore immune surveillance, and give the body’s natural defenses the upper hand. Essentially, our drug doesn’t kill cancer directly like toxic chemotherapies – instead, our drug awakens the immune system to fight cancer for you. This approach targets one of cancer’s most powerful survival strategies while avoiding the high toxicity of traditional treatments. We’re starting by targeting mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining, with a 5-year survival rate under 13 percent.
Contact us
If you want to learn more about our science and mission, you can reach us at founders@erisbio.com
