KinSea Lead Discovery AS is a pharmaceutical start-up company founded in September 2022 by UiT The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), the University of Bergen (UiB), Norinnova, and the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC). Based in Tromsø, Norway, KinSea started operations in March 2023. Seed financing is secured through convertible loans from KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-I), an early-stage life sciences venture fund based in Germany, and through Norinnova, UiT´s agency for research commercialization, with the purpose to expand the investor syndicate

KinSea´s mission is to exploit the potential of marine bioactives for the treatment of human diseases. The initial project focuses on pan-mutant FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitors which have strong potential to overcome the limitations of currently available first- and second-generation FLT3 inhibitors for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) as well as other hematologic tumors. Our inhibitors are based on a natural product from the Arctic Ocean that has been discovered and further developed by the founding partners. KinSea collaborate closely with LDC, UiT, and UiB.