Daewoong Pharmaceutical Ltd. has out-licensed greater China rights for its idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate, bersiporocin (DWN-2088), to CS Pharmaceuticals Ltd. in a deal worth up to $336 million. Bersiporocin is a prolyl-tRNA synthetase inhibitor being developed by Daewoong for IPF and potentially other fibrotic indications.
Wall Street cheered a potential, long hoped-for breakthrough in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and shares of Pliant Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:PLRX) closed at $23, up $14.12, or 159%, after investors learned of positive phase IIa data with PLN-74809. The trial met its primary and secondary endpoints, proving PLN-74809, a dual integrin alpha-V/beta-1/6 antagonist, well-tolerated with a favorable pharmacokinetic (PK) profile. Exploratory efficacy endpoints measured changes in forced vital capacity (FVC) and quantitative lung fibrosis (QLF) imaging, and the drug turned up a dose-dependent treatment effect on FVC and QLF vs. placebo over 12 weeks of treatment. Serum biomarkers were examined, too.
Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. has signed an exclusive option-to-license agreement for Cellionbiomed Inc.’s preclinical ion channel modulator, BBT-301, thus adding a second idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate to its fibrotic diseases portfolio. The company hopes to enter the clinic with the drug in the U.S. by the end of 2022.
Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. has signed an exclusive option-to-license agreement for Cellionbiomed Inc.’s preclinical ion channel modulator, BBT-301, thus adding a second idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate to its fibrotic diseases portfolio. The company hopes to enter the clinic with the drug in the U.S. by the end of 2022.
San Diego area startup Endeavor Biomedicines Inc. launched in January 2021, with a $62 million series A financing from Omega Funds, Longitude Capital and its own management team. The company is working on one asset, ENV-101 or taladegib, a small-molecule inhibitor targeting the Hedgehog pathway, which it plans to develop for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
DUBLIN – Galecto Biotech Inc. raised $64 million in a series D funding round, which will enable the company to complete a phase IIb trial of its lead drug candidate, the inhaled galectin-3 inhibitor GB-0139, in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and to move two other programs into phase II studies, in liver fibrosis and myelofibrosis, before year-end.
Seongnam, Korea-based Bridge Biotherapeutics Inc. nailed down a deal with Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (BI) to develop the former's phase I autotaxin (ATX) inhibitor, BBT-877, for fibrosing interstitial lung diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).
