
	OncoMed is a clinical development-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing first-in-class monoclonal antibody therapeutics targeting cancer stem cells, or CSCs. To date, we have advanced five novel anti-CSC product candidates into more than a dozen clinical studies and we continue to pursue the discovery of additional novel anti-cancer stem cell therapeutics. All of our product candidates were discovered internally in our own research laboratories.
	
	OncoMed&rsquo;s discovery efforts focus on cancer stem cells, which are the subpopulation of cells in a tumor responsible for driving growth and metastasis of the tumor. CSCs, also known as tumor-initiating cells, exhibit certain properties which include the capacity to divide and give rise to new CSCs via a process called self-renewal and the capacity to differentiate or change into the other cells that form the bulk of the tumor. Common cancer drugs target bulk tumor cells but have limited impact on CSCs, thereby providing a path for cancer recurrence and metastases. Our product candidates target CSCs pathways by blocking self-renewal and driving differentiation of CSCs toward a non-tumorigenic state, and also impact bulk tumor cells. We believe our product candidates are distinct from current generations of chemotherapies and targeted therapies, and have the potential to significantly impact cancer treatment and the clinical outcome of patients with cancer.
	
	We utilize our proprietary technologies to (1) identify, isolate and evaluate CSCs, (2) identify and/or validate multiple potential targets and pathways critical to CSC self-renewal and differentiation, and (3) develop targeted antibody and other protein-based therapeutics that are designed to modulate cancer stem cell targets and inhibit the growth of CSCs. These targets are in pathways implicated in cancer biology and stem cell biology. Our current clinical and preclinical product candidates address targets in the Notch, Wnt and RSPO pathways, as well as other undisclosed fundamental CSC pathways.
