Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 and 90% of those deaths were due to metastasis, - which is the process of the primary tumour spreading to secondary organs in the body. Mestastop Solutions Pvt Limited is a biotechnology company focused on creating new innovative solutions to address the life-taking threat of cancer metastasis.
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Mestastop Lab
Founded in the year 2018, this start-up aims to out-license, collaborate, or partner with their IP to promote new drug discovery, drug repurposing, and predictive diagnostics for metastasis. The company is based in Koramangala, where they have their laboratory in the state-of-the-art BioNEST facility of IKP Eden. Dr. Arnab Roy Chowdhury, with his better half, Dr. Debabani Roy Chowdhury are the brains behind this start-up that looks at bringing a revolution in cancer treatment.
"Our vision is to be 'the metastasis specialists', by creating a world-class R&D focused on metastasis, leveraging the unique strengths of being in India. We are bringing together a cross-functional team, trained in discovery, diagnostics, and AI," says Arnab, the Founder of Mestastop Solutions.
Mestastop is in the business of creating IP. The two biggest challenges in metastasis research were the lack of understanding and elucidation of the metastasis biology & the characterization of the actual metastatic cells. The first year was spent by Mestastop in researching and deciphering these two puzzles. Now, they are into the translational research area where patient tumour samples are collected and isolated. The characterization of the patient tumors via the proprietary assay platform & the subsequent information derived from it helps the team in creating a predictive platform for metastasis diagnosis.
In a very short time, Mestastop Solutions has gained significant recognition on global platforms. Their work has been selected for presentation at the two most prestigious international conferences on cancer, the American Association of Cancer Research Annual Conference 2021 (AACR) and also the European Association of Cancer Research 2021 (EACR). Mestastop Solutions has also been vetted by the largest Scientific outsourcing platform Science Exchange and is listed on their website as authorized service providers.
On asking Arnab how money was raised, he said, "That was the toughest part as I needed others to see what I was seeing, so I had to take the complexity away from the problem and present it simply. However, the paradox was if the problem was simple, why was it not solved If it was complex, how can you solve it".
Mestastop Solutions was born due to the trust friends and families had in the cause. Arnab was backed by a solid leadership team, including eminent scientists and clinicians, that supported his vision. With the numbers and experimental data, Mestastop could also bring Mumbai Angels, Vistari Ventures, IKP, and key opinion leaders like Dr. Arjun Surya, CSO of Curadev Pharma, on board. However, this is just the start for them. With the current patient data they have, the founders believe that multiple investors will flow in and the company will be out in the public domain shortly.
Mestastop Solutions has exciting plans for the future wherein they have partnered with a group in South Korea, Immunobiome Inc., which is working on Mestastop engineered cell-based proprietary animal models. Once these are standardized, they will have substantial proof of concept from in vitro to in vivo studies, along with patient-derived xenografts which will help them in raising funds for expansion and designing the discovery and diagnostic arms under one roof.
With visionaries such as Arnab and Debabani who believe that India can be the hub of Biotechnology innovation; not production, not services, not only generics or biosimilars, we have to see what Mestastop Solutions are going to do, to shift the paradigms in cancer cure and treatment.
