Feb. 2 Quick Takes: Roche’s pipeline cuts include IPF therapy from Promedior deal
Plus Karuna licenses Goldfinch assets and updates from Vera, BioNTech, Ratio and more
In its 4Q22 and full-year earnings report Thursday, Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY) revealed that it had ceased development of zinpentraxin alfa (RG6354) to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis after stopping the Phase III STARSCAPE trial for futility. The company will continue developing the therapy, a recombinant PTX-2 that activates FCGR, in a Phase II study to treat myelofibrosis. Roche obtained zinpentraxin alfa via its $390 million buyout of Promedior Inc. in 2019. The pharma’s other cuts included AKT inhibitor ipatasertib to treat prostate cancer and efmarodocokin alfa to treat acute graft-versus-host disease.
Less than a week after kidney disease company Goldfinch Bio Inc. said it was winding down operations, Karuna Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:KRTX) announced a licensing deal with the assignee of the Goldfinch estate for its TRPC4/5 channel modulators. Goldfinch’s former lead candidate, GFB-887, was in development for renal diseases including focal segmental glomerular sclerosis (FSGS), but Karuna plans to evaluate the molecules for psychiatric and neurological diseases. The assignment estate of Goldfinch will receive $15 million up front plus up to $540 million in milestones for each candidate, $410 million of which are tied to regulatory and commercial milestones, and low single digit royalties...