Despite enormous progress in treating many cancers, survival rates for a number of cancer types remain below 20%. Many major gains in cancer survival result from development of novel chemotherapeutics (cytotoxics and cytostatics), but the industry has shifted focus to developing targeted therapies that work in specific patient populations. At Frost Biologic, we believe that chemotherapeutics will remain the backbone of cancer therapy and that next generation chemotherapeutics are the most likely to make major gains in cancer indications whose high mortality rates still persist.

At Frost Biologic, we use high content phenotypic screening using our expertise in cell model systems to identify compounds that alter cellular behaviors critical to cancer progression. Our original screening effort used a proprietary screening technology to identify inhibitors of HGF-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Frost Biologic specializes in identifying the molecular target of small molecules identified in cell-based phenotypic screens.

Frost Biologic relies on an evolutionary process for developing compounds towards a clinical candidate. Phenotypic screening yields different scaffolds, each of which are pitted against each other to select the most promising by empirical evaluation. Analogs of each scaffold are pitted against each other in a selective process that allows empirical determination of the best candidates for further development. Cell-based, ADME, toxicity, and efficacy studies are conducted on multiple analogs to allow the most promising molecules to emerge. At Frost Biologic, clinical candidates are not selected; they evolve through disciplined, managed processes.