Enzomenib

This $150m funding round builds on a $51m Series C round in November 2022. Credit: ma_Design via Shutterstock. German cancer biotech CatalYm has secured $150m in a Series D funding round following the recently announced data for its lead monoclonal antibody visugromab. The company has centred its pipeline on drugs targeting GDF-15 or growth differentiation factor-15, which acts as a key regulator of immune resistance to cancer therapies. The company was in the news earlier this year, when it shared follow-up data of its drug visugromab showing efficacy in heavily pretreated patients. The new funding, led by Canaan Partners and Bioqube Ventures, is set to fund the company’s planned Phase IIb trial of visugromab in select checkpoint-naïve front-line and second-line treatment settings. The drug has so far been studied in combination with Bristol Myers Squibb’s (BMS) anti-PD-1 drug Opdivo (nivolumab) in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), hepatocellular cancer, and urothelial cancer. CatalYm presented data from the ongoing GDFATHER Phase I/IIa trial (NCT04725474) that is testing this combination at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting held in Chicago, on 2 June. Across all tumour types, patients who received visugromab showed an objective response rate of 16.7%. The average duration of response surpassed 15 months for NSCLC, and 14 months for urothelial cancer, with 77% of the patients’ responses still ongoing. These 90 patients were heavily pretreated and had experienced failed anti-PD-1 therapies in the past. See Also: Sumitomo Pharma’s DSP-5336 gains FDA fast track for AML AstraZeneca completes Amolyt Pharma acquisition Anti PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor drugs, such as BMS’ Opdivo, enhance the immune system’s ability to fight cancer by blocking the PD-1 receptor on T cells, a checkpoint that normally helps keep immune responses in check. Cancer cells often exploit this pathway to avoid being attacked by the immune system. Elevated GDF-15 levels in cancers can cause anti-PD-1 drugs to fail by creating an immunosuppressive tumour environment that hinders T cell activation and recruitment, which visugromab is designed to target. Checkpoint inhibitors have pulled in billions over the last few years. MSD’s PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda (pembrolizumab) was the world’s top-selling drug last year, making $25bn. BMS’ Opdivo generated $9bn in the same year, as per the company financials. One of the reasons for the high sales is the drugs’ ability to be paired with other anti-cancer medicines. In the announcement accompanying the funding, CatalYm’s CEO Phil L’Huillier said: “We continue to demonstrate visugromab’s potential to induce cancer remission depth and durability across multiple solid tumour indications, emphasising the substantial role that visugromab could play in a novel anti-cancer therapy regimen.”

Cardurion also plans to use the funding to expand the indications outlined for the two candidates and acquire additional assets for treating cardiovascular disorders. Image Credit: VectorMine / Shutterstock. US-based cardiology biotech Cardurion Pharmaceuticals has raised $260m in Series B financing to advance its drug pipeline. The proceeds will fund the late-stage trials for two of the company’s lead candidates, CRD-750, a phosphodiesterase 9 (PDE9) inhibitor for heart failure; and CRD-4730, a calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitor for treating catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. Both therapies are being evaluated in Phase II trials. The company also plans to use the fund to expand the number of indications being explored for the two candidates and acquire additional assets for treating cardiovascular disorders. The investors in the Series B round included Bain Capital, Ascenta Capital, and other US-based investment companies. CRD-750 is being evaluated in two Phase II trials (NCT06215586 and NCT06215911) to treat two types of heart failure – heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Both placebo-controlled trials are currently recruiting patients across multiple locations in the US and Canada. In May, the company presented positive data for another PDE9 inhibitor, CRD-740, in patients with heart failure. The CARDINAL-HF Phase IIa trial (NCT05409183) met its primary endpoint in patients with HFrEF by demonstrating a statistically significant median increase in plasma cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP). See Also: Sumitomo Pharma’s DSP-5336 gains FDA fast track for AML AstraZeneca completes Amolyt Pharma acquisition CRD-4730 is being evaluated in a Phase II trial (NCT06005428) as a treatment for catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia—a rare genetic arrhythmic disease. The company also plans to develop CaMKII inhibitors to target additional cardiovascular indications. There has been an increased interest in developing novel cardiovascular therapies in recent months. In February, Novo Nordisk agreed to pay up to $1.46bn to license multiple molecular glue degraders for treating cardiometabolic disorders and rare diseases from Neomorph. As part of the agreement, Neomorph would bear discovery and preclinical research responsibilities while Novo Nordisk would have exclusive rights to further clinical development and commercialisation. Another approach that has emerged as a promising treatment in the cardiovascular space is drugs targeting the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor. Last year, Novo Nordisk reported that its GLP-1 therapy Wegovy (semaglutide) reduced the incidence of cardiovascular events in obese and overweight patients by 20% compared to placebo.