Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels. Cancerous tumors usurp the natural process of angiogenesis in order to build the blood vessels needed to obtain the oxygen and nutrients to fuel their growth. By preventing blood vessel formation, anti-angiogenesis drugs starve cancerous tumors and inhibit their progress.

Verseon has developed two families of compounds that inhibit blood vessel growth without being generally toxic for surrounding cells. Additionally, Verseon's compounds do not exert their anti-angiogenic effect by binding to VEGF, the most common mechanism targeted by competing drugs and as such represent a new class of angiogenesis inhibitors.