Acoramidis

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. '

Bayer provided an update Tuesday about the company's ongoing downsizing efforts, saying it has cut 3200 full-time, mostly managerial jobs, in the first half of 2024. The progress signals an acceleration of layoffs after the German company announced it had eliminated 1500 positions in the first quarter.CEO Bill Anderson, who took over from Werner Baumann a little over a year ago, introduced the layoffs in a bid to trim bureaucracy and shift "95% of the decision-making in the organisation…from managers to the people doing the work." The company had close to 100,000 staffers at the end of 2023.Voluntary redundancies, affecting primarily managers, have so far been consistent with a target to cut €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in annual costs from 2026, Anderson said during a company media call, adding "this is exactly what we envisioned.""One of the central commitments we made at Capital Markets Day is that this organization will consistently perform while simultaneously addressing the longer-term roadblocks holding us back. The 154 days since March 5th have been pretty good evidence that we can do both," he added.Upgrade pharma forecastDespite the challenges, Bayer said its pharmaceutical division showed promising growth in the second quarter, particularly in its newer products. Prostate cancer drug Nubeqa saw sales soar by 89.1% to €380 million, while sales of Kerendia, its treatment for chronic kidney disease, grew 71.6% to €115 million.However, the company's bestselling blood-thinning drug Xarelto faced headwinds, with sales declining 13% to €904 million. The eye disease treatment Eylea, for which Bayer holds revenues exclusive rights outside the US, managed 3.6% growth, reaching €843 million in quarterly sales. Overall, sales of prescription medicines rose by 4.5% to €4.6 billion.Looking ahead, Bayer raised its outlook for the pharma division, now expecting 2024 sales to grow by up to 3%, an improvement over its previous forecast of flat to a 4% decline.Meanwhile, Anderson says he is confident in the company's pharma prospects. "In just the past 90 days, we've taken big steps toward filling the mid-stage pipeline, expanding labels and advancing late-stage assets… Our pharma pipeline is one of our biggest levers for value creation," he said.The company is preparing for two new drug launches early next year; elinzanetant, a non-hormonal treatment for vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause that was filed for FDA approval last week, and cardiovascular therapy acoramidis, for which Bayer acquired EU rights from BridgeBio earlier this year.