Deucravacitinib

Pictured: Nasdaq building in New York City/iStock, hapabapa Alumis on Friday announced that it would proceed with its initial public offering, though with a smaller raise than it had recently hoped. The San Francisco-based biotech will put more than 13,1 million shares of its common stock up for sale at $16 apiece. Concurrent with its initial public offering (IPO), Alumis will also sell 2.5 million additional shares in a private placement with AyurMaya Capital Management Fund. In total, the company expects to raise $260 million in gross proceeds, before taking away underwriting discounts and commissions. Alumis can make more money from a 30-day over-allotment option, during which underwriters can purchase up to nearly 1,97 million additional shares of the biotech’s common stock at the IPO price. The company will make its Nasdaq debut on Friday under the stock ticker symbol ALMS. The IPO is expected to close on July 1, 2024. Morgan Stanley, Leering Partners, Cantor and Guggenheim Securities are the joint book-running managers for the IPO. Alumis filed its IPO earlier this month but only revealed that it initially targeted a raise of $274 million on Monday, with a per-share price range of $16 to $18. The biotech will use the funds to advance its lead candidate ESK-001, a second-generation TYK2 inhibitor being developed for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. In addition to its IPO, Alumis will also have $259 million in Series C funding to support the development of ESK-001. Closed in March 2024, the Series C round was led by Foresite Capital, Samsara BioCapital and venBio Partners. Soon after, the company posted promising data from the Phase II STRIDE study showing that patients treated with ESK-001 were more likely to achieve a 75% improvement on the Psoriasis Area and Severity Score, a validated tool to measure psoriasis severity. At the time, CEO Martin Babler said that the biotech was preparing to push ESK-001 into Phase III development. With these data, Alumis is positioning ESK-001 as a rival to Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu (deucravacitinib) and Takeda’s TAK-279. In its IPO filing earlier this month, Alumis said that these first-generation TYK2 blockers “have not been able to achieve complete TYK2 inhibition … limiting their otherwise therapeutic potential.” According to the company, ESK-001 has the potential to overcome these first-generation limitations “by achieving maximal target inhibition.” Alumis is also developing A-005, another TYK2 inhibitor, that can cross into the central nervous system and which is being assessed for neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative conditions. The biotech recently launched its Phase I study of A-005, testing its safety and tolerability in healthy volunteers. Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Reach out to him on LinkedIn or email him at tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.

AbbVie's TL1A deal with FutureGen Biopharma, an ex-Takeda staffer's scam scheme and Kyowa Kirin's hefty investment in North Carolina made our news this week. Through a licensing deal with a Chinese biotech, AbbVie is the latest Big Pharma to bet on TL1A in immunology. A former Takeda employee has pleaded guilty to scamming the Japanese drugmaker through a fake consulting firm. Kyowa Kirin will invest up to $530 million in a biologics plant in North Carolina. And more. 1. AbbVie joins TL1A race via $150M upfront deal with China's FutureGen AbbVie is paying $150 million upfront for a preclinical inflammatory bowel disease candidate from China’s FutureGen Biopharmaceutical, with $1.56 billion in potential milestones. The drug targets TL1A, the same focus of Roche’s $7 billion acquisition of Telavant and Merck’s $11 billion takeover of Prometheus Biosciences last year. AbbVie believes its asset is different from first-generation antibodies. 2. Ex-staffer pleads guilty to scamming Takeda out of $2.3M through fake consulting firm A former senior level employee at Takeda has pleaded guilty to charges around how she and a co-conspirator allegedly defrauded the drugmaker into paying $2.3 million for fake consulting work. The scheme began in 2022, when the ex-staffer incorporated the sham consulting practice. The two allegedly used the money to buy a diamond ring, a condo and a Mercedes-Benz and to make a down payment on a wedding venue. 3. Kyowa Kirin to expand manufacturing footprint with $530M biologics plant in North Carolina Kyowa Kirin is pouring up to $530 million into building a 171,700-square-foot biologics facility in Sanford, North Carolina, as the Japanese company’s first manufacturing site in North Amerca. The size of the investment was significantly larger than the previously announced $200 million. The site is expected to create more than 100 jobs and is expected to be fully operational by 2027. 4. WuXi shares jump after BIOSECURE Act's exclusion from defense spending bill WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics got a temporary reprieve as uncertainty grows around the BIOSECURE Act’s legislative path. The bill was denied consideration in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which determines the Department of Defense’s budget each year. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, the lead GOP sponsor of the bipartisan bill, told Axios that he would seek other routes to move the bill forward. 5. Would BIO support a biosecurity bill targeting drug developers? Hear CEO John Crowley’s response Meanwhile, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s CEO John Crowley said he has expressed to Congress that any potential new targets under the BIOSEUCRE Act must be based on “very clear and convincing evidence.” A recent request for an intelligence briefing on GenScript and its related businesses raised the faintest possibility of a potential expansion of the bill. However, Kevin Noonan, Ph.D., from law firm MBHB argued that the bill wouldn’t target drug developers. 6. Analysts tip Lilly's Alzheimer's launch to boost rival Leqembi Eli Lilly tipped to leapfrog Eisai, Biogen and take control of $13B Alzheimer's market As Eli Lilly’s donanemab sailed through an FDA advisory committee meeting, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts figured the drug could beat Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi on sales in 12 months after a potential approval in part because of its more convenient dosing and the ability to stop treatment. Nevertheless, William Blair analysts viewed donanemab’s potential approval as an opportunity to boost the overall Alzheimer’s disease market for anti-amyloid drugs. 7. Alumis sets out IPO ambitions to fund TYK2 inhibitor through phase 3 psoriasis trials Alumis is looking for an IPO to accelerate the development of its immunology pipeline. The company’s lead asset, a TYK2 inhibitor coded ESK-001, was in-licensed from China’s Haisco Pharma back in 2021 for up to $180 million in upfront and potential milestone payments. The California biotech now aims to advance the drug—a potential competitor to Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu—into phase 3 trials in plaque psoriasis later this year. Other News of Note: 8. European antitrust watchdog accuses API manufacturer Alchem of engaging in price-fixing scheme 9. FDA accepts Eisai's monthly dosing application for Leqembi, sets Jan. 25 decision date 10. Lotus Pharma picks up Teva's Thailand operations for undisclosed sum 11. Junshi, Coherus' PD-1 inhibitor Loqtorzi scores in phase 3 liver cancer trial 12. Takeda extends Partners in Health collab to improve access to care in Massachusetts