Spanios, a leader in human-derived organoid model systems, has announced two strategic partnerships aimed at accelerating cancer drug development through its innovative patient-derived tumoroid platform. These collaborations represent significant advancements in the company's mission to improve clinical trial success rates and develop effective treatments for challenging cancers.
White Lion Capital Partnership Provides Funding Pathway
On April 25, 2025, Spanios announced a strategic partnership with White Lion Capital LLC designed to empower biotech and pharmaceutical companies in their drug development journey. This collaboration creates a unique pathway for companies utilizing Spanios' COMPASS (Custom Organoid Modelling Platform for Accurate and Speedy Solutions) platform to receive direct investment from White Lion Capital LLC.
The partnership specifically addresses a critical gap in the drug development pipeline by providing funding for IND-enabling studies and early-stage clinical trials. This removes a significant financial barrier for innovative oncology therapeutics seeking to transition from laboratory research to clinical testing.
"We are thrilled to partner with White Lion Capital LLC to provide our clients with both innovative science and accessible funding through the COMPASS-APP program," said Bhuvanesh Dave, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Spanios. "Our goal is to improve clinical trial success rates and accelerate the development of new therapies for orphan, rare, and difficult-to-treat cancers."
COMPASS-APP: Bridging Science and Funding
The newly launched COMPASS-APP (Adoption Promotion Plan) represents a novel approach to addressing the financial challenges faced by early-stage biotech companies. Under this program, clients adopting Spanios' platform can accelerate drug discovery and validation while accessing necessary investment through White Lion Capital LLC.
This initiative comes at a pivotal time as the FDA increasingly embraces New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) under the FDA Modernization Act 2.0. Traditional animal models, which often fail to accurately predict human responses, are gradually being replaced by more predictive human-derived models like those offered by Spanios.
The COMPASS platform provides multi-indication readouts that can significantly enhance the predictability of clinical outcomes, potentially reducing the high failure rates commonly seen in oncology drug development.
GlioGuard Partnership Targets Glioblastoma
In a separate announcement on April 1, 2025, Spanios revealed a strategic partnership with GlioGuard focused specifically on developing treatments for Glioblastoma (GBM), one of the most lethal forms of brain cancer.
GBM affects approximately 3.19 per 100,000 individuals of working age and has a dismal five-year survival rate of only 6.8 percent. Current treatments, including surgical resection and pharmacological therapy, typically result in tumor relapse, with average prognosis less than 12-18 months after diagnosis.
This partnership combines Spanios's patient-derived tumoroid platforms with GlioGuard's approach to drug discovery, which integrates preclinical data using human-relevant disease models to guide development and patient selection.
"We are excited to collaborate with the uniquely insightful and developmentally effective team at GlioGuard to advance therapeutic research for GBM," noted Dave. "By combining our expertise, resources, and innovative platforms, we continue to deliver on our mission of identifying, discovering, and delivering effective treatments to one of the most difficult to treat cancer indications."
Advancing Beyond Animal Models
Both partnerships highlight the industry's shift toward human-relevant models for drug development. Spanios's COMPASS platform enables the recreation of human solid tumors and their microenvironment ex-vivo, providing a more translational approach to preclinical research.
The company's three-tiered approach to human-relevant models aims to fast-track drug discovery through an efficacy-first approach, potentially reducing development timelines and improving success rates for cancer therapeutics.
These strategic collaborations position Spanios at the forefront of the evolving landscape of oncology drug development, where precision medicine approaches and human-relevant models are increasingly recognized as critical components for success.
