Eidos Therapeutics, Inc.

BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics, a cancer drug startup spun out of biotechnology company BridgeBio Pharma, will go public by merging with a blank-check entity.In a deal announced Friday, BridgeBio Oncology expects to get around $450 million by combining with Helix Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, formed by biotech investor Cormorant Asset Management. The proceeds include $196 million held by Helix as well as commitments by more than a dozen investors to buy about $260 million in shares at $10.36 apiece.The deal puts the startups equity value at $949 million. Including existing cash reserves, the company will have around $550 million in the bank. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter, after which BridgeBio Oncology would trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol BBOT.The SPAC deal gives BridgeBio Oncology an alternative path to public markets. Formerly TheRas, the company was a division of BridgeBio, a hub-and-spoke biotech with subsidiaries focused on different drug programs. Some of these units have broken off from BridgeBio, among them heart drug developer Eidos Therapeutics later reacquired and the rare disease-focused GondolaBio. TheRas separated from its parent company last May, gaining $200 million from Cormorant and several other firms that were involved in Fridays deal.In a January interview, BridgeBio CEO Neil Kumar said the GondolaBio and BridgeBio Oncology spinouts were a result of investors pressing the company to focus on its most advanced drug programs, like a treatment called Attruby thats now approved. BridgeBio Oncology has three drugs in Phase 1 or preclinical testing.We've had to get super creative and effectively de-consolidate some of these, he said. Some of the spokes had to go and create a different hub.In SPAC deals, a publicly traded investment vehicle buys or combines with a private company, giving the startup an easier way to go public and allowing its investors to keep a larger stake than they otherwise would.SPACs boomed in 2020 but fell out of favor over the next few years amid disappointing returns and increased federal oversight. There have been signs of a resurgence, though. In a Feb. 18 report, research firm Renaissance Capital counted 12 pricings and 17 initial filings so far this year, a pace that, if sustained, would put 2025 above 2019 in terms of total activity.The upswing has occurred even as most of the SPACs that priced over the last five years now trade below their offering price, Renaissance added.For BridgeBio Oncology, the deal allows it to sidestep whats been a difficult market for biotech IPOs. In a statement, CEO Eli Wallace said the deal provides the optimal path to advance our programs.Two of BridgeBio Oncologys drugs target cancers driven to growth by mutations in a gene known as KRAS. One, called BBO-8520 and currently in Phase 1 testing, binds to a specific KRAS protein in both its on and off state unlike available medicines from Amgen and Bristol Myers Squibb. The other targets different types of mutated KRAS proteins. Patient dosing in a Phase 1 trial for that drug could start later this year.A third prospect mutes signaling between two proteins, PI3Ka and RAS, that are implicated in tumor growth. Its in an early-stage trial in multiple types of solid tumors. '

Dyslipidemia, a condition involving unhealthy levels of cholesterols and other fats in the blood, is a major risk factor in cardiovascular diseases, which make up the world’s biggest killer with 17.9 million deaths ​ per year. While there are treatments for dyslipidemia, they are not sufficient to control the blood levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or ‘bad cholesterol,’ in many patients. The oral drug developed by CSPC is designed to prevent the production of a low-density lipoprotein called lipoprotein (a), which is involved in the transport of cholesterol in the bloodstream. By doing this, it may treat and prevent a range of cardiovascular diseases as a monotherapy or in combination with another small molecule candidate by AstraZeneca’s that depletes low-density lipoproteins by blocking an enzyme called PCSK9. According to the deal terms, CSPC is eligible for $100 million upfront in addition to up to $1.92 billion in payments based on development and commercialization milestones, plus tiered royalties. Sharon Barr, AstraZeneca’s executive vice president and head of biopharmaceuticals R&D stated ​ that the asset “could help patients to more effectively manage their dyslipidemia and related cardiometabolic diseases. Given the scale of unmet need, with cardiovascular disease being a leading cause of death globally, advancing novel therapies that can be used alone or in combination to effectively address known risk factors and advance patient care is particularly important and a key part of our strategy.” googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display('text-ad1'); }); The global market for cardiovascular disease treatments was worth a massive $144 billion in 2023 ​ and is projected to grow by 4% per year to $208 billion by 2030. The market growth is being fuelled by increasingly sedentary lifestyles across the population, leading to higher prevalences of cardiovascular diseases in both young and old people. This is the latest deal showcasing major interest from big pharma companies in cardiovascular disease treatments. AstraZeneca kicked off 2023 with a $1.8 billion takeover of the U.S. drug developer CinCor. Other examples include Novo Nordisk’s takeover of the German player Cardior Pharmaceuticals for up to €1 billion ($1.1 billion) in March this year and Bayer acquiring the European marketing rights to a small molecule cardiovascular disease treatment from Eidos Therapeutics of the U.S. for up to $310 million upfront in the same month. AstraZeneca also has major interest in the field of obesity, having inked another $2 billion licensing deal with China’s Eccogene last year for global rights to the latter’s oral once-daily glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist.

BridgeBio Pharma has transferred several preclinical and early clinical-stage drugs to a new company, GondolaBio, thats drawn $300 million in promised investment from a syndicate of blue-chip life sciences investors.Viking Global Investors, Patient Square Capital and Frazier Life Sciences are among the investors backing GondolaBio, according to a Wednesday securities filing from BridgeBio. Also involved is an entity owned by BridgeBio CEO Neil Kumar.The Palo Alto, California biotechnology company will initially hold a 45% stake in GondolaBio, although that will go down as additional capital commitments are funded. The new company will inherit drug programs aimed at the rare diseases erythropoietic protoporphyria, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and tuberous sclerosis complex.BridgeBio has already slimmed its pipeline down once this year, spinning out a slate of experimental cancer drugs into a new company called BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics. The company has long operated on a hub-and-spoke model, functioning as a parent for biotech subsidiaries. It previously launched QED Therapeutics and Adrenas Therapeutics, and several years ago reacquired another, Eidos Therapeutics, that it formed in 2017.The agreement creating GondolaBio was recommended by a committee of independent and disinterested directors to BridgeBios board, which approved it. The company did not return BioPharma Dives request for further information on GondolaBio beyond the details enclosed in the securities filing.Also committing to invest in GondolaBio are Sequoia Capital, Cormorant Asset Management and Aisling Capital.BridgeBios chief asset is a heart drug called acoramidis, which succeeded in Phase 3 testing last year. An approval application is currently under review in the U.S., with a decision expected by late November. '