Key Investor Signals
Backed by Orange Collective and selected for YC Winter 2024.
, the alumni fund, lists Eris Biotech in OC Fund I, and the company joined Y Combinator's Winter 2024 batch.
Selected for MSK's 2025 Therapeutics Accelerator cohort.
Memorial Sloan Kettering selected Eris among 10 therapeutics companies to work with its researchers and clinicians on potential drug-development collaborations.
Produced an inhibitor against a tumor immune-evasion pathway.
Eris Biotech identified a pathway involved in tumor immune evasion and produced a designed to act against it.
Other Positive Signals
- Co-founders previously co-authored peer-reviewed cancer-immunology research.
Team
Evita Weagel
Co-Founder and CEO
- Holds a PhD in microbiology and molecular biology from Brigham Young University, with an emphasis in cancer immunology.
- First author on a 2018 Cancer Cell International paper reporting on the cell membrane of lung, breast and colorectal cancer cells.
- Held a postdoctoral research fellowship at from January 2018 to April 2019.
- Worked as a scientist at from March 2021 to June 2023.
Rachel Brog Garlick
Co-Founder
- Holds a PhD in Immunology from Dartmouth.
- Co-first author on a 2021 Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy paper on engineering a natural ligand-based chimeric antigen receptor.
- Doctoral work expressed immune modulators designed to shift the from immune-suppressive to immune-activating.
- Worked as a scientist at , a Utah cell-therapy company.
Product
Eris Biotech is developing oral small-molecule drugs designed to prevent tumors from releasing immune-suppressing . Blocking this signalling route could restore the immune system's ability to recognize and attack cancer cells. Its first indication is mesothelioma.
Extracellular vesicle inhibition
Tumors use extracellular vesicles to carry signals that weaken immune activity. Eris's lead inhibitor is designed to interrupt their formation and release at the tumor.
Immune reactivation
Removing these signals is intended to prevent tumors from suppressing immune cells at a distance. This approach targets a different part of the immune-evasion process than checkpoint inhibitors.
Oral mesothelioma program
The lead program is designed for oral dosing and initially targets mesothelioma, an asbestos-linked cancer of the lung lining. The underlying mechanism is also documented across other solid tumors, creating potential for later expansion.
Market Overview
Mesothelioma remains difficult to treat despite recent immunotherapy approvals. Checkpoint drugs reactivate immune cells where they encounter a tumor, but tumors can also suppress immunity by releasing extracellular vesicles that carry inhibitory signals throughout the body. No approved treatment directly blocks this release mechanism.
Commercial demand for therapies that restore antitumor immunity is well established. Keytruda generated $31.7 billion in 2025 sales, while the global cancer immunotherapy market is projected to nearly double by 2033. A therapy targeting a different immune-evasion mechanism could begin in mesothelioma and expand across solid tumors if the biology translates.
People diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the United States.
Neither approved first-line immunotherapy regimen has achieved two years of median overall survival.
Global sales generated in 2025.
Projected growth from 2025 to 2033.
Comparable Outcomes
Flexus Biosciences
Flexus developed small molecules designed to reverse tumor immune suppression. Its lead asset, F001287, had not entered clinical trials when the company was sold. Bristol-Myers Squibb acquired Flexus in 2015 for $800 million upfront and up to $450 million in development milestones, bringing the potential value to $1.25 billion.
Peloton Therapeutics
Peloton developed oral small molecules targeting HIF-2α, a tumor pathway linked to kidney cancer. Its lead candidate, PT2977, had reached late-stage development when the company was sold. It provides a precedent for creating substantial value around an oral inhibitor of a novel cancer pathway. Merck acquired Peloton in 2019 for $1.05 billion upfront and up to $1.15 billion in milestones, taking the potential value to $2.2 billion.
Exosome Diagnostics
developed cancer tests based on extracellular vesicles released by tumors. Its lead product analyzed vesicle-carried RNA in urine to assess prostate cancer risk. acquired Exosome Diagnostics in 2018 for $250 million upfront, with up to $325 million in milestones through 2022. The total potential value was $575 million.
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Sources
This profile was built from public company materials, ecosystem sources, market references, and professional profiles.