Doylestown-based Aprea Therapeutics is moving closer to entering clinical testing with its third potential experimental cancer treatment, writes John George for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

The company, with an $18 million market capitalization, previously started enrolling patients in a phase I study of APR-1051. The experimental treatment targets ovarian and breast cancer in patients with specific genetic mutations.

The company is also in the process of conducting ongoing human testing of ATRN-119, its potential treatment for advanced solid tumors in gastric, colon, breast, and ovarian cancer patients with defined genetic mutations.

A third potential treatment is also being worked on.

“We are making progress in the clinic, and we have another asset coming,” said Oren Gilad, Aprea Therapeutics CEO. “It has a target that, as far as we can tell, our competitors aren’t going after. We want to file for a patent this year and get the [intellectual property] protection.”

Gilad started the company twelve years ago, after conducting a “simple” experiment involving cancer cells on plastic petri dishes. Today, Aprea is a precision medicine company that focuses on  treating cancer using “synthetic lethality.”

Read more about Aprea Therapeutics’ experimental cancer treatment in the Philadelphia Business Journal.