March 14 Quick Takes: Switch launches with $52M and conditional gene knockdown tech
Plus: Servier’s vorasidenib meets glioma endpoint and updates from Teitur, AlgoTx, GSK, Acesion, Sophia Genetics and more
Switch Therapeutic Inc. emerged from stealth Tuesday with a $52 million series A round co-led by Insight Partners and UCB Ventures, and a platform to enable conditional knockdown of problematic genes. The company’s technology combines the delivery advantages of single-stranded antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) with the RNA knockdown mechanism of double-stranded siRNA, and incorporates a sensor domain to enable cell type-specific activity. Existing investors including Upfront Ventures and BOLD Capital Partners participated in the financing, as did new investors including Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY), Ono Venture Investment, Digitalis Ventures, Dolby Family Ventures, Free Flow Ventures and PhiFund Ventures. Switch will initially focus on CNS disorders, and aims to explore other disease areas via collaborations.
An interim analysis from the Phase III INDIGO trial showed Servier’s vorasidenib met the primary endpoint of progression-free survival and secondary endpoint of time to next intervention in patients with residual or recurrent IDH mutant low-grade glioma. Servier gained the selective dual inhibitor of mutant IDH1 and IDH2 through its $1.8 billion acquisition of the oncology business of Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIO), which is eligible for $200 million upon FDA approval of the therapy...