Aura Biosciences Offers Hope for Ocular Melanoma

Elisabeth “Eli” de los pinos was enjoying her job at Eli Lilly’s Oncology Business Unit where she was part of the leadership team responsible for Alimta’s market launch in Europe, a new drug for the treatment of Lung cancer. But she took the leap, leaving corporate comfort to build Aura Biosciences from the ground up around viral-like synthetic nanoparticles that are closely related to wild type viruses in structure and behavior but lack any viral DNA. These empty protein shells resemble viruses but do not have the capability to replicate or integrate. Aura is leverage the technology to create AU-011, which can deliver potent cell-killing laser-activated molecule right to the point of ocular cancer. Aura says the molecule is activated by a standard ophthalmologic laser and treatment will be administered in an outpatient visit.