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Aditum Bio, a biotech investment firm that also runs clinical development for its portfolio companies, has done another licensing deal in China. The firm, which was founded by former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez, created a new company called Kalexo Bio to house the exclusive global license to a dual-targeted siRNA that’s being tested for lipid management in patients with dyslipidemia and for prevention of high-risk atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, or ASCVD. Kalexo will pay $12 million in upfront and near-term payments and up to $1 billion in biobucks to get the rights to the experimental drug from Mabwell Bioscience, the companies said Wednesday. Mabwell, based in Shanghai, is currently running IND-enabling studies of the candidate, codenamed 2MW7141, Jimenez told Endpoints News . Mabwell, which trades on the Shanghai stock exchange, is also attempting a listing in Hong Kong as IPO interest surges in that region. The drug developer primarily focuses on oncology but has dabbled in other areas like fibrosis. It’s also made deals with biotechs like Alphabet’s Calico . Kalexo is entering the hot field of siRNAs, which have generated much buzz in recent years. After Jimenez left Novartis, the Swiss pharma giant paid $10 billion in 2019 to buy The Medicines Company and an Alnylam-discovered siRNA treatment. The cholesterol-lowering drug subsequently was approved as Leqvio. More recently, the Alnylam and Medicines Company leaders who developed Leqvio teamed up to create a new siRNA biotech called Corsera Health , with a goal to go after the same cardiovascular problem, which is still one of the leading causes of death. “Many big pharmas shied away from cardiovascular disease because of the large outcomes studies that were required to gain approval,” Jimenez said. “Since the FDA has shown a shift in what it will take to get these drugs approved because of the severity of the disease, we thought it would be very interesting to go after one of the new technologies, and we settled on siRNA.” 2MW7141 goes after two genetically validated targets called PCSK9 and Lp(a), according to Jimenez, who added that “the preclinical data is quite encouraging.” Aditum creates biotech companies around in-licensed assets that are already being tested in humans or on the verge of clinical studies. The Oakland, CA-based firm, which recently set up an office in Cambridge, MA, has a team of more than 50 people who run clinical development for those portfolio companies. The goal is to get strong clinical data that will then attract a pharma buyer, Jimenez previously told Endpoints. Other biotech investors have set up similar models, including TCG Labs Soleil . Jimenez launched Aditum Bio in 2019 with his former Novartis colleague Mark Fishman, the founding president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research. The duo has already raised three funds, including a $428 million fund that was revealed in January . It’s built more than 10 companies and has five drugs in the clinic, according to Jimenez, and its portfolio includes companies like substance use disorder biotech Tempero Bio. At least one company, Anteris , has shuttered so far. The firm’s highest-profile exit has been Versanis, which took an experimental medicine from Novartis and repurposed it for obesity. Eli Lilly bought Versanis in 2023 for up to $1.9 billion. With Kalexo, Aditum is going back to China. Last November, the firm in-licensed a trispecific T cell engager from Leads Biolabs and set up a company called Oblenio Bio to test it in autoimmune diseases. “Mark Fishman and I built the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Shanghai, and we employed there many Chinese nationals that are now in the biotech ecosystem,” Jimenez said. “That’s a definite benefit for Aditum, just given the network that we have in the Chinese biotech environment.” Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Kalexo’s upfront payment. It is $12 million in upfront and near-term payments.

To bring pacibekitug into its pipeline, Novartis is paying $48 per share of New York-based Tourmaline Bio.\n Novartis is paying $1.4 billion to get its hands on Tourmaline Bio and its former Pfizer cardiovascular drug that impressed in a phase 2 study earlier this year.At the center of the deal is pacibekitug, an antibody targeting interleukin-6, which hit the primary endpoint of a phase 2 study in May by sharply reducing levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker for cardiovascular disease risk, in patients with chronic kidney disease.Tourmaline had pitched that study as the launch pad for developing pacibekitug as a treatment for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) along with other cardiovascular diseases. Interleukin-6 is a proinflammatory cytokine, and inflammation is known to be a driver of atherosclerosis. The liver produces CRP in response to inflammation, and patients with atherosclerosis typically have higher levels of the protein in their blood.“With no widely adopted anti-inflammatory therapies currently available for cardiovascular risk reduction, pacibekitug represents a potential breakthrough in addressing residual inflammatory risk in ASCVD with a differentiated mechanism of action targeting IL-6,” Novartis Chief Medical Officer Shreeram Aradhye, M.D., said in this morning’s release.“Inflammation is a major driver of cardiovascular disease, and the team at Tourmaline has made significant progress with this asset,” Aradhye added. “We are excited to bring pacibekitug into the Novartis portfolio and collaborate with the Tourmaline team to advance its development as we diversify our efforts in cardiovascular care.”To bring pacibekitug into its pipeline, Novartis is paying $48 per share of the New York-based biotech—equivalent to $1.4 billion—which marks a significant increase on the $30.18 price that Tourmaline’s shares closed at on Monday and is well above the $20 at which the company’s stock entered the year.The Tranquility phase 2 trial, which boosted Tourmaline’s fortunes, enrolled 143 patients with elevated levels of CRP and chronic kidney disease, who are at high risk of ASCVD.Individuals who received 50 mg of pacibekitug saw an average reduction in CRP levels at Day 90 of 86%, while a 25-mg group saw 75%, and the 15-mg group dropped 85%, compared to a 15% reduction in the placebo cohort. At the time, the biotech described the drop in CRP levels as “rapid, deep and durable,” while pointing out that the study marked the first time that an IL-6 inhibitor had been tested in a clinical trial with quarterly dosing.Pacibekitug originated at Pfizer, with Tourmaline licensing the asset in 2022. In addition to the cardio indications, the biotech has been testing the antibody in a phase 2 trial in the autoimmune disorder thyroid eye disease, while Pfizer had previously studied pacibekitug in Crohn\'s disease, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. “Our mission at Tourmaline has been to establish new standards of care in areas of high unmet medical need, and today’s transaction announcement both underscores our commitment to that focus and also delivers compelling shareholder value,” Tourmaline CEO Sandeep Kulkarni, M.D., said in the Sept. 9 release.“Novartis shares our conviction in the critical, but largely unaddressed, role of inflammation in driving cardiovascular diseases and will be an ideal partner to accelerate the development of pacibekitug,” Kulkarni added.Tourmaline got a boost for advancing its sole asset in 2023 through a reverse merger with Talaris Therapeutics, which put Tourmaline on the Nasdaq with a $75 million private placement.For Novartis, the acquisition of Tourmaline follows a summer in which the Swiss pharma padded out its cardiovascular pipeline via a multifaceted collaboration with Chinese siRNa biotech Argo Biopharmaceutical and a four-year pact with ProFound Therapeutics.Novartis’ cardiovascular offering already includes the bad-cholesterol–lowering med Leqvio alongside the heart failure medication Entresto. The pharma’s late-stage pipeline features pelacarsen, an antisense med aimed at preventing cardiovascular events in patients with elevated levels of lipoprotein(a).