Today, a brief rundown of news involving Karyopharm Therapeutics and Amgen, as well as updates from BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics, Evommune, Encoded Therapeutics and Schrödinger that you may have missed.
Cash-strappedKaryopharm Therapeuticshasreached a deal with creditorsthat’ll give the company extra time to make a $15.8 million debt payment that came due on Thursday. According to a regulatory filing, a group of lenders, noteholders and royalty investors will hold off on taking action through Oct. 15, giving Karyopharm a little over a month to negotiate, pursue strategic alternatives or find additional financing. Karyopharm agreed to pay a $20 million fee in the form of newly issued convertible stock as part of the deal. Though lengthier financial relief would’ve been “most ideal,” the agreement “at least buys the company time,” wroteRBC Capital MarketsanalystBrian Abrahams. Karyopharm is waiting to see whether U.S. regulators willaccept an approval applicationfor its multiple myeloma drugXpovioin myelofibrosis.— Ben Fidler
A combination ofAmgen’sImdelltraandAstraZeneca’sImfinzihelped people with first-line, extensive small-cell lung cancerlive longer than Imfinzi alonein a Phase 3 trial. Amgen didn’t provide specifics in a Tuesday statement, but said a trial monitoring committee detected a survival benefit among Imdelltra-Imfinzi recipients at an early data check, along with statistically significant improvements on measures of tumor progression and drug responses. Imdelltra is currently approved as a single agent for people whose disease gets worse following chemotherapy, and generated about $627 million in sales last year. Approval in the first-line setting could yield “a significant expansion” of the drug’s sales potential, wroteWilliam BlairanalystMyles Minter. Amgen will discuss the data with regulators. —Jonathan Gardner
Evommune’s experimental drugEVO756missed the main goalof a Phase 2 trial in atopic dermatitis, failing to significantly reduce the size or severity of skin lesions in atopic dermatitis patients when compared to a placebo, the company said Tuesday. The setback marks the second recent negative readout for EVO756, which fell short in a trial inchronic spontaneous urticariain June. Evommune has lost more than 40% of its market value sincegoing public last year.EVO756’s struggles have led investors to shift their attention to another therapy,EVO301, that’s also in testing for atopic dermatitis, wroteOppenheimeranalystKostas Biliouris. That treatment “looks interesting,” as it might help people who don’t respond toDupixent, he wrote. —Jonathan Gardner
Shares ofBridgeBio Oncology Therapeuticshave fallen by more than one-third since the company announced Tuesday it’sscaling back development for two KRAS-blocking drugs. BridgeBio dropped plans to test one drug,BBO-8520, in the first-line non-small cell lung cancer. It also deprioritized a breast cancer trial for a second therapy known asBBO-10203. BridgeBio made those decisions to focus resources on studies with “the highest probability of success and greatest potential benefit for patients,” among them a combination trial in second-line lung cancer. While those moves were “prudent” financially, they nonetheless eliminated a “large potential opportunity,” wrote Leerink Partners analyst Andrew Berens. —Jonathan Gardner
Encoded Therapeuticshas raiseda $275 million Series F roundto advance a pair of gene therapies for neurological disorders, the company said. Encoded’s most advanced candidate, a gene therapy dubbedETX-101, showed in an early-stage trial the potential tolower the frequency of seizuresand improve cognition in children with the rare genetic condition Dravet syndrome. A second program calledETX-301is in preclinical development for chronic pain from post-amputation neuromas, a thickening of nerve tissue that occurs after limb loss. Led by investors includingGV, Arch Venture PartnersandRTW Investments, the funding will also help Encoded boost its manufacturing capabilities.— Gwendolyn Wu
A biotech startuplaunched WednesdaybySchrödinger,RA CapitalandNew Enterprise Associatesis setting out with a goal to develop drugs for inflammatory diseases. CalledTectora Therapeutics, the young company is starting up with $55 million to take forward two Schrödinger small molecules, calledSDGR-4594andSDGR-8139, into human testing. Multiple startups linked to Schrödinger have signed large deals with drugmakers, among themNimbus Therapeutics,Morphic TherapeuticandAjax Therapeutics. Nimbus sold some drug programs toGilead SciencesandTakeda, while Morphic and Ajaxwere acquiredbyEli Lilly.— Gwendolyn Wu
