Current chemotherapy or hormone therapy suppresses the growth of cancer cells but does not effectively prevent their dissemination through the body. As a consequence, relapse frequently occurs in target organs of metastasis, originating from cells that were not eradicated by the initial treatment.

Tumor cell dissemination is an early event in cancer. Therefore, improved protection from metastasis and relapse will hinge on agents that directly suppress the molecules that mediate cancer invasiveness and anchorage-independence, the two basic mechanisms of metastasis. MetaMol's mission is to develop diagnostics for the ability of cancer to spread and to supplement existing cancer therapies with anti-metastasis drugs.