Engineering cancer drug combinations.
Cancer evolves resistance quickly.
The most effective treatments are often combinations of drugs.
But choosing the right drugs, doses, and schedules is hard.
Our name, Oncko, reflects our mission to solve this search problem in oncology — the combinatorial challenge known as nCk.
Combos work
Platinum doublet
BEP
FOLFOXIRI
D-VRd
R-CHOP
Various regimens
(105-1015) search
The table below illustrates the challenge of discovering multi-drug combinations from 100 candidate drugs—selecting the right drugs, doses, and schedules.
| Drugs / combo | Drug combinations | + dose & schedule |
|---|---|---|
| 2-drug | ~5k | ~160k |
| 4-drug | ~3.9M | ~4B |
| 8-drug | ~186B | ~6Q |
Discovery & optimization.
Screen against SuperTumor™
Combos are tested in SuperTumor™, an experimental model that represents 1 million cancer resistance mechanisms.
Quantify efficacy and toxicity
Combos are tested in vivo and in silico leveraging real-world patient data.
Optimize therapeutic index
Search toward combinations with improved activity and lower expected toxicity.
Our novel multi-drug combos.
| Program | Indication | Focus | In vivo efficacy | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combo #1 | 2L NSCLC | 4-drug, orthogonal mechanisms | ✓ | Preclinical |
| Discovery campaign #2 | 2L NSCLC | Resistance-targeting regimens | Discovery | |
| Discovery campaign #3 | 2L CRC | Resistance-targeting regimens | Discovery |
Built by scientists and operators who know combinations.
Oncko brings together expertise in cancer therapeutics, large-scale experimental platforms, and machine learning.
Atray Dixit
Inventor of Perturb-seq and co-developer of Shuffle-seq, building scalable discovery systems for combination therapeutics.
Tim Sproul
Leads preclinical strategy and translational execution across Oncko’s multi-drug combination programs.
Glenn Wozniak
Principal scientist focused on experimental rigor, combination screening, and platform development.
Andrés Mañas
AI engineer developing the models and infrastructure that connect experimental signal to regimen optimization.
Madinah Najib
Senior research associate driving assay execution and high-quality data generation across discovery campaigns.
Supported by a world-class advising team
Bill Grossman
Oncology drug development leader who has developed cancer combos through clinical trials, including senior leadership roles at Arcus Biosciences and Gilead.
Alice Shaw
An expert in clinical NSCLC and drug resistance. Dr. Shaw was previously vice president and global head of translational clinical oncology at Novartis for almost five years.
Adam Palmer
Demonstrated independent drug action explains a large portion of successful cancer combinations and showed a roadmap to designing better ones.
Luke Gilbert
Cancer biology and combination CRISPR screening expert.