Our Purpose-Built Therapeutic
Platform: A Unique Combination
of Technologies

The Klarity™ Platform

Our goal is to leverage the insights from our Klarity platform to discover and develop highly differentiated, novel, oral therapeutics to transform human health in areas with high unmet medical need, including obesity and diabetes, neurological disorders, and gastrointestinal disease.

Our platform’s strength is its novel combination of multiple discovery and translation-enabling technologies and our unique expertise in applying them. The result is an integrated end-to-end process for powerful and repeatable innovation that speeds exploration and is designed to increase the overall probability of success in generating a pipeline of product candidates.

Integrated Technologies for Discovery and Translation


Single cell transcriptional sequencing and atlas generation

Single cell sequencing uses next-generation sequencing technologies to examine genetic information obtained from a single cell on the molecular level. This information enables us to identify all the specialized cell types in tissues of interest, which include the intestinal epithelium, enteric nervous system, gut immune system, vagus, and brainstem. Our use of single cell sequencing has enabled our identification of nine distinct lineages of EECs in humans, which we believe is indicative of the broader diversity among this cell type than had been previously suspected, and may afford us distinct opportunities to discover novel, druggable targets.

Pathway circuit mapping

Building on this cellular understanding, we use circuit mapping to understand how the specialized cell types that we have identified communicate with each other and with other organs. Our use of circuit mapping has enabled the discovery of discrete cell populations in the brain that are responsible for a specific biological response and has enabled us to trace that circuit to its origin in the vagus and/or gut.

Optogenetics and chemogenetics

To understand the functions of the specialized cells we’ve identified by sequencing, we use optogenetics and chemogenetics. These tools allow highly selective activation of a specific neuron or set of neurons so that we can observe the physiology.

Proprietary validated human genetics

Our proprietary Human Genetics Platform for the analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) represents a new approach to revealing the genes underlying human disease, driving target discovery and increasing the probability of translational success.

A unifying statistical framework to discover disease genes from GWASs, McManus et al., Cell Genomics

Mouse and human enteroids

Gut organoids, in vitro experimental constructs intended to mimic in vivo cellular functions, allow us to study the functions of the various cell types in a highly relevant in vitro system that predicts the activity of different cell types acting together in live tissue. Using enteroid models of hormone secretion from both mouse and human tissue, we have shown excellent translation from mouse enteroids to murine models and human enteroids and, ultimately, to hormone secretion in the clinic.

Gut-targeted molecules

We produce small molecules that are designed to have minimal systemic exposure. We believe this reduces the likelihood of off-target side effects. K-757 and K-833, our lead product candidates being evaluated for obesity and type 2 diabetes, were designed as gut-targeted molecules.