Renaming an innovator in cancer treatment

Kyn Therapeutics envisioned a world where every cancer patient has a cure. Such an expansive vision needed to be matched with an aspirational name, rather than one that references a particular treatment. (Kyn had been chosen to express the company’s initial breakthrough using the kynurenine-degrading enzyme Kynase.) Catchword recommended the beautiful, multi-layered Ikena, a Hawaiian word meaning “vista, perspective, knowledge.” The name also retains a light connection to Kynase.