Outsmarting the world’s most challenging diseases
Strand Therapeutics is pioneering a new breed of programmable mRNA therapies that switch on only in diseased cells – sparing healthy tissue, improving safety, and tackling diseases that resist conventional treatments. In conversation between with co-founder and CEO Jake Becraft and Kinnevik investment director Ala Alenazi, he shares Strand’s vision, the remarkable Phase 1 results and the decision to partner with Kinnevik for the next phase of growth
Tell us about yourself and what led to the founding of Strand Therapeutics
I’ve spent my career at the intersection of programmable biology and therapeutics, driven by a belief that programming biology will be as transformative for medicine as software was for technology. During our time as academics at MIT, Tasuku and I saw a gap: mRNA had extraordinary promise, but it was essentially ‘dumb’ — because it couldn’t respond to the complex environments inside the human body. We developed technology to encode sophisticated genetic programs directly into mRNA, allowing therapies to make decisions inside cells. That vision became Strand Therapeutics.
What sets Strand apart from other mRNA approaches?
Most mRNA platforms focus on delivering a static payload – you get expression, but it’s the same everywhere in the body. Strand’s platform is fundamentally different: we program mRNA to be smart. It can sense cellular conditions, regulate expression, and execute multi-step genetic programs. This enables higher precision, better safety, and the ability to tackle complex diseases like cancer in ways conventional mRNA simply can’t. This coupled with our next-generation RNA modalities, which offer much more robust and lasting payload delivery, creates a one-of-a-kind RNA medicine approach that can create scalable cures while maintaining patient access and scalability.
Tell us about the preliminary results from your ongoing Phase 1 clinical study.
While we’re still early in development, the results we’ve seen so far are nothing short of remarkable for a first-in-human study. In a patient population with late-stage, treatment-resistant cancers, we’ve already seen multiple patients respond to our drug. In a few extraordinary cases, their cancer has completely disappeared. Beyond these clinical responses, the biomarker data are validating our mechanism: we’re observing robust immune activation exactly where we designed it to happen, all with a safety profile consistent with our expectations. It’s an early but powerful signal that programmable mRNA can deliver on its transformative promise.
How will you use the new funds?
This financing allows us to both accelerate and expand. First, we’ll drive our lead oncology program through key clinical milestones, building the dataset needed for pivotal studies and a potential accelerated approval. Second, we’ll advance our preclinical pipeline (in immunology and beyond) toward the clinic. And third, we’ll invest in our core platform to keep Strand at the forefront of programmable mRNA innovation and enable the future of genetic medicine.
Why did you choose to partner with Kinnevik?
Kinnevik shares our conviction that programmable mRNA will redefine the therapeutic landscape, and they bring a truly long-term investment mindset. They understand the value of building enduring companies that lead entire categories, not just single products. Their network, track record, and alignment with our mission made them an ideal partner for this next phase of growth.
'Where will Strand Therapeutics be five years from now?
In five years, I expect Strand to have multiple clinical programs in oncology and other therapeutic areas, with at least one commercialized – or close to commercialization – and more on the horizon. We will have demonstrated, in the clinic and the market, that programmable mRNA is not just a scientific novelty, but a new foundation for medicine. A future cornerstone of our medical infrastructure that can enable scalable and accessible medicines in everything from cell therapy to gene editing. And importantly, we’ll have built a platform capable of rapidly creating a pipeline of first-in-class therapies to address some of the world’s most challenging diseases.
Strand was founded in 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts, by two world-class synthetic biologists from MIT, Jake Becraft, Ph.D. (CEO) and Tasuku Kitada, Ph.D. (President & Head of R&D).
Selected media coverage
- Forbes: MIT Spinout Strand Therapeutics Raises $153 Million To Make Cancerous Tumors Light Up
- Endpoints News: Strand Therapeutics nabs $153M to test mRNA cancer therapies
- FierceBiotech: Big Pharmas back Strand's $153M series B to advance mRNA drugs
- Boston Business Journal: MIT spinout raises $153M for 'programmable' mRNA drugs
