Company History

CanBas was spun off from the research of three scientists from the Nagoya City Medical School and Fujita Health Medical School. Among these scientists is CanBas’ CEO Dr. Takumi Kawabe, who had devoted his medical research activities toward finding new cures to treat cancer patients. After completing five years of post-doctoral research in the US, Dr. Kawabe returned to Japan, where, as Associate Professor at the Molecular Medicine Research Institute of Nagoya City University, he focused his research on identifying abrogators of the G2 checkpoint phenotype screening. identifying abrogators of the G2 checkpoint through cell cycle G2 checkpoint phenotype screening. Successful identification of the first hit from this approach prompted the genesis of CanBas, founded in 2000 with financial backing from venture capital and angel investors. CanBas has since generated a pipeline of products in various stages of development as anti-cancer therapeutic agents. Our lead product, CBP501, is currently being evaluated in randomized Phase II clinical trials in combination with cisplatin/pemetrexed for first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Earlier in our pipeline are small molecules in preclinical development. CanBas completed its IPO in 2009, and today it is a publicly listed (Tokyo Stock Exchange: M-4575) clinical-stage oncology company focusing on the discovery and development of novel anti-cancer drugs that abrogate the G2/M checkpoint in tumor cells.