MAIA Biotechnology is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a single lead drug candidate, ateganosine (also called THIO or 6-thio-dG), as a cancer treatment. Ateganosine is a small molecule that exploits telomerase — an enzyme active in over 85% of cancer cells but largely absent in normal cells — to incorporate a damaging nucleoside into cancer cell telomeres, triggering cell death. The drug also stimulates immune pathways by releasing DNA fragments from dying cancer cells, converting tumors that don't respond to immunotherapy into ones that do. This dual mechanism is the rationale for using ateganosine sequentially before checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs). MAIA's primary clinical focus is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), specifically late-line patients who have already failed CPIs and chemotherapy. MAIA's Phase 2 trial (THIO-101) reported a median overall survival of 17.8 months in third-line patients, and MAIA initiated a Phase 3 pivotal trial (THIO-104) in late 2025 comparing ateganosine plus a CPI against chemotherapy in up to 300 patients, targeting FDA accelerated approval in 2026. MAIA also plans Phase 2 trials in hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and small cell lung cancer. MAIA is pre-revenue and funds operations through equity issuances. A key cost-reduction feature of its development strategy is clinical supply agreements with Regeneron, BeOne Medicines, and Roche, under which these partners supply their CPIs at no cost for MAIA-sponsored trials. MAIA holds exclusive worldwide licenses from UT Southwestern for ateganosine's core patents, and would owe milestone payments and royalties on net sales if the drug is approved.