This small-cap company is working on cancer treatments. CytomX Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTMX) is a clinical-stage, oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company with a vision of transforming lives with safer, more effective therapies. It is developing a novel class of investigational antibody therapeutics, based on the firm’s Probody technology platform, for the treatment of cancer. CytomX has strategic drug discovery and development collaborations with AbbVie, Amgen, Astellas and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Probody therapeutics are designed to remain inactive until they are activated by proteases in the tumor microenvironment. As a result, Probody therapeutics are intended to bind selectively to tumors and decrease binding to healthy tissue, to minimize toxicity and potentially create safer, more effective therapies. As leaders in the field, our innovative technology is designed to turn previously undruggable targets into druggable targets and to enable more effective combination therapies.

The CytomX clinical-stage pipeline includes first-in-class product candidates against previously undruggable targets, including a CD166-targeting Probody drug conjugate wholly owned by CytomX (CX-2009) and a CD71-targeting Probody drug conjugate partnered with AbbVie (CX-2029). CD166 and CD71 are among cancer targets that are considered to be inaccessible to conventional antibody drug conjugates due to their presence on many healthy tissues.

The shares have traded sideways since the summer and may be ready to break out. The Goldman Sachs price target is $12, and the consensus target is $14.30. The shares were trading early Friday trading above $7.50.

Kaleido Biosciences

The shares were hit hard in early November but have bounced back strong. Kaleido Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ: KLDO) is a clinical-stage health care company with a differentiated, chemistry-driven approach to targeting the microbiome to treat disease and improve human health. The company has built a proprietary product platform to enable the rapid and cost-efficient discovery and development of novel Microbiome Metabolic Therapies (MMTs).

MMTs are designed to modulate the metabolic output and profile of the microbiome by driving the function and distribution of the gut’s existing microbes. Kaleido is advancing a broad pipeline of MMT candidates with the potential to address a variety of diseases and conditions with significant unmet patient needs.