Scorpion Therapeutics

01 / WHAT IT BUILT

What the company did

Scorpion Therapeutics was a Boston precision-oncology startup founded in 2020 by serial biotech entrepreneur Gary Glick. Like Glick's other startups, it developed small-molecule drugs against validated targets deemed undruggable, using a platform integrating cancer biology, medicinal chemistry and data science. Its lead program was STX-478, a mutant-selective PI3Kα inhibitor in Phase 1/2 testing for breast cancer. It raised $420 million in total, struck a 2022 transcription-factor alliance with AstraZeneca (option to license up to three candidates) and a 2023 lung-cancer partnership with Pierre Fabre for two mutant-EGFR programs worth up to $553 million in biobucks.

03 / EVENT HISTORY

Events in the structured record

1. 2020
   Company founded

   Gary Glick founds Scorpion Therapeutics in Boston to drug undruggable cancer targets.

2. 2022
   AstraZeneca alliance

   Scorpion signs a transcription-factor drug alliance with AstraZeneca, granting an exclusive option on up to three candidates.

3. 2023
   Pierre Fabre partnership

   Scorpion partners with Pierre Fabre on two mutant-EGFR non-small cell lung cancer programs, worth up to $553 million in milestone biobucks.

4. 2025
   Eli Lilly acquisition and Antares spinout

   In January 2025, Eli Lilly agrees to acquire Scorpion's PI3Kα program (STX-478) for up to $2.5 billion; the deal closes in March. Non-PI3K assets, the team and partnerships spin out as Antares Therapeutics, which launches in June with a $177 million Series A.