ESSA’s initial focus is in the treatment of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is a male hormone (androgen) driven malignancy, and six decades of drug development have resulted in continuous improvements in anti-androgen therapy. Yet resistance commonly develops to drugs.

ESSA had developed a new class of drugs, the “anitens”. These drugs interrupt androgen-driven biology in a novel manner and are active even in the setting of resistance to current anti-androgen therapies.