The PETRA01 project aims to develop a new type of treatment for cancer. The project is based on the discovery made by Dr. Lewis Cantley, one of the founders of the company Petra Pharma, which initially signed the license agreement for the project.
In 2020, the agreement was transferred to the newly started company Ravenna Pharmaceuticals, a spin-out from Petra Pharma, which thus took over responsibility for the continued development and the financial commitments. Ravenna Pharmaceuticals has been founded by the same ownership group that has been involved in Petra Pharma, including Eli Lilly, AbbVie, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer.
In March 2021, Ravenna Pharmaceuticals sold the project to the US-based cancer drug company HiberCell, which has a strong ownership base in ARCH Venture Partners, Celgene and Hillhouse Capital Group, among others. The terms of the original license agreement with Sprint Bioscience are unchanged after the transaction.