Calithera Biosciences (CALA) — Stock, Pipeline & Market Cap

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CALA · Stock Price

USD 0.00+0.00 (+0.00%)

Market Cap: $487

Historical price data

Market Cap: $487Pipeline: 30 drugsFounded: 2010HQ: South San Francisco, United States

Sector Ranking#391 in Small Molecule Drugs

Overview

Calithera Biosciences was founded in 2010 with a mission to develop novel small-molecule drugs targeting critical metabolic pathways in cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment. Its strategy centered on two core platforms: arginase inhibition to modulate immune function and glutaminase inhibition to starve tumors. The company advanced multiple candidates into clinical trials and built a pipeline of ~30 programs, but ultimately discontinued development and wound down operations in 2023 after a strategic review of its clinical prospects.

OncologyImmuno-oncology

Technology Platform

Focused small-molecule drug discovery platform targeting two interconnected metabolic pathways: arginine metabolism (via arginase inhibition) to modulate immune function, and glutamine metabolism (via glutaminase inhibition) to starve tumors of essential nutrients.

Pipeline

30

30 drugs in pipeline

Drug	Indication	Stage
TAK-659	Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma	Phase 2
Placebo + CB-839 + everolimus	Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma	Phase 2
Paclitaxel + CB-839	Triple Negative Breast Cancer	Phase 2
CB-839 + Cabozantinib + Placebo	Advanced Renal Cell Carcinoma	Phase 2
Telaglenastat + Carboplatin Chemotherapy + Pemetrexed Chemot...	Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer	Phase 2

Opportunities

Calithera's programs targeted large, high-unmet-need markets in oncology, including the multi-billion dollar immuno-oncology space and specific glutamine-dependent tumors like renal cell carcinoma.

Its first-mover status in glutaminase inhibition and a strategic partnership for its arginase inhibitor provided potential pathways to value creation, contingent on clinical success.

Risk Factors

The company faced extreme clinical development risk, as both lead compounds ultimately failed in pivotal trials.

It also bore the scientific validation risk of pioneering unproven metabolic targets in complex human cancers.

Financial risk was ever-present, with the company's survival dependent on positive data to access further capital.

Competitive Landscape

Calithera was an early leader in both arginase and glutaminase inhibition, with limited direct clinical-stage competition. However, it competed indirectly with the entire landscape of oncology therapies and faced the immense challenge of clinically validating novel biological mechanisms. The failure of its lead programs may have temporarily cooled investment in these specific approaches.