Marc de Garidel, CinCor Pharma CEO (Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images)
CinCor Pharma made some noise earlier this year after raising $143 million in a Series B in October, thanks to a round led by General Atlantic. And now CEO Marc de Garidel, the former chairman and CEO of Ipsen who came on board the biotech in July, is moving forward — gunning for a spot on Nasdaq. The Cincinnati-based, Sofinnova-backed biotech — founded in 2018 and spun out from parent company CinRx Pharma — filed an S-1 on Friday, penciling in $100 million for the raise. As for what the biotech plans to do with whatever amount it ultimately wants to raise, it’s all going into CinCor’s only drug candidate: CIN-107, an oral aldosterone synthase inhibitor that co-founders Jon Isaacsohn and Catherine Pearce licensed from Roche for initially $3 million back in 2019, according to the S-1. Aldosterone is a hormone linked to increased blood pressure, and has been a target of interest to treat hypertension.
Once CIN-107 reaches certain milestones, CinCor will pay Roche another $40 million, along with an additional $175 million in sales milestones, plus royalties.
CinCor is looking to advance clinical development of the drug and push the candidate through multiple clinical trials for different indications: two Phase II trials and a Phase III trial for hypertension, a Phase II trial for hormone disorder primary aldosteronism and yet another Phase II trial for ameliorating complications of chronic kidney disease. Any leftover funds will be used for general corporate purposes.
Currently, the major stockholders include Sofinnova — both Sofinnova Venture Partners with more than 23% of the shares and Sofinnova Capital IX with exactly 17% of the shares, alongside 5AM Ventures-related entities with 17%, CinRx Pharma with 10.8% ownership and General Atlantic with 10.6%.
The biotech has been bleeding money, like all startups — in 2019 and 2020, it had a net loss of $5 million and $22.3 million, respectively. And as of the end of September this year, their accumulated deficit is a combined $48.3 million.
At this time, there is nothing on the horizon for another drug in CinCor’s pipeline. Once the biotech prices and goes public, it hopes to trade under the proposed ticker $CINC.
CALQUENCE is a registered trademark of the AstraZeneca group of companies.
At the 2021 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, blood cancer researchers from around the world gathered virtually to discuss the progress that has been made in the field of hematology. Over the past decade, that progress has been tremendous. We’ve seen not only breakthrough approaches to care, but also significant improvement upon existing novel treatments and exploring combinations within those medicines.1 These advances have transformed expectations of what a blood cancer diagnosis now means for patients. While we’ve come a long way, I believe the most exciting scientific discovery is yet to come, and that future advances will truly transform patient care.
Michel Vounatsos, Biogen CEO (Credit: World Economic Forum/Valeriano Di Domenico)
In a surprise move, Biogen announced Monday that it will cut the price of its controversial Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm in half, slashing the cost from $56,000 to $28,000.
The sudden discount marks a sudden turnaround for the big biotech as it struggles to turn around a drug whose stuck-in-the-mud sales and political ramifications have sent the company into turmoil and triggered the ousting of its longtime chief scientist. Biogen’s leadership had resisted calls since June to reduce the price of the drug.
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Right as the new Omicron variant is poised to increase rapidly across the US, the federal government has effectively run out of the only monoclonal antibody treatment that works against it, and at least one major hospital system is now halting all mAb infusions.
Late last month, the federal government paused shipments of GlaxoSmithKline and Vir’s mAb treatment sotrovimab in order to conserve supplies of the only treatment that might work against the Omicron variant. Last week, however, HHS told Endpoints News that the move to hold back sotrovimab was unrelated to Omicron, and due to a surplus of Eli Lilly mAbs, which aren’t effective against Omicron.
One of Pfizer’s new vaccine TV commercials never mentions its vaccine brand Comirnaty. In fact, it doesn’t mention vaccines or Covid-19 at all and doesn’t show people wearing masks or social distancing. Yet it’s clear the ad is talking about the pharma’s Covid-19 vaccines.
The ad’s voiceover talks about the unremarkable moments and routines that matter, like getting a coffee refill at a diner or Sunday grocery shopping. The images shift from those everyday moments to a scientists and purple lidded glass vials spinning off a production line and being packed into freezers.
As the new year rapidly approaches, and gyms and health food stores across America prepare for a wave of people seeking weight loss, Novo Nordisk has announced that it does not expect to meet demand for Wegovy, its prescription injectable weight-loss medication for obesity, until the second half of 2022 in the US.
The shortage comes due to manufacturing issues at a contract manufacturer that was tasked with filling syringes for the pens. The news comes just days after Novo announced that it would invest roughly $2.58 billion to expand its manufacturing hub in Kalundborg, Denmark with three new facilities and the expansion of a fourth to keep up with the success of its diabetes and obesity med semaglutide, Wegovy and Rybelsus.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) at the Capitol on Friday, Dec. 17 (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Images)
Sen. Joe Manchin on Sunday derailed President Biden’s trillion-dollar spending package, effectively halting the Democrats’ best chance yet to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, among a bevy of other health-related provisions tacked onto the Build Back Better Act.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, stunned by Manchin’s announcement on Fox News, said in a statement: ‘Senator Manchin claims that this change of position is related to inflation, but the think tank he often cites on Build Back Better — the Penn Wharton Budget Institute — issued a report less than 48 hours ago that noted the Build Back Better Act will have virtually no impact on inflation in the short term, and, in the long run, the policies it includes will ease inflationary pressures.’
The AbbVie/Alvotech debacle on a Humira biosimilar has taken yet another turn — escalating tensions between the two biotechs.
The pharma giant filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission on Friday, trying to prevent Alvotech from selling a lower cost version of AbbVie’s Humira, an anti-TNF drug that treats rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and Crohn’s disease, among other ailments.
The long wait for Novavax’s promising Covid-19 vaccine will soon be over for Europeans.
The European Medicines Agency on Monday recommended granting a conditional marketing authorization for Novavax’s shot, to be known as Nuvaxovid, to prevent Covid-19 for all those over the age of 18. And later Monday morning, the European Commission granted that authorization.
Clinical trials of the two-shot vaccine, with each jab taken three weeks apart, showed it was safe and offered strong efficacy, but the EMA warned that the vaccine has not been tested against some variants of concern like Omicron.
Tom Plitz (L) and Arthur Roach, Chord Therapeutics CEO and founder
About a year after Geneva-based Chord Therapeutics emerged from stealth to see if it could repurpose an old chemotherapy agent for rare diseases, Merck KGaA is swooping in with a buyout.
While the companies are keeping mum about the financial terms of the deal, Merck KGaA is adding Chord’s lead candidate to its neurology pipeline — a small molecule oral version of the chemotherapy drug cladribine dubbed CRD1.
https://endpts.com/weeks-after-143m-megaround-low-profile-cincor-looks-to-vault-onto-nasdaq-with-a-roche-castoff/
