BI-1358894

Karuna Therapeutics is looking to compete with Boehringer Ingelheim on depression and anxiety with a new license to Goldfinch Bio’s assets, starting with $15 million to the shuttered biotech. Karuna steps into an arena already being tested by Boehringer in multiple Phase II studies — the two are targeting transient receptor potential canonical 4 and 5, or TRPC4/5, which is thought to have a role in neuroscience indications. Goldfinch’s asset went through a Phase II in kidney diseases , but Karuna’s sights are set on mood and anxiety disorders for now. At the forefront of the deal stands GFB-887, with preclinical candidates also in the package. Based on what Karuna saw out of Boehringer and the literature, the biotech was looking for a new mechanism to treat depression and anxiety, CSO Steve Paul said in an interview. It follows the thesis of Karuna, similar to its approach in schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s psychosis, which paid out big time after Phase III data last fall. Before signing the deal, which could balloon by $520 million in biobucks for each candidate, Karuna did a materials transfer agreement to test out Goldfinch’s GFB-887 and also investigate BI’s compound, Paul said. The results were promising and Karuna was “just persistent enough and hung around long enough” to beat out other potential dealmakers, the executive added. Boehringer is investigating its TRPC4/5 inhibitor, dubbed BI 1358894, in Phase II studies in borderline personality disorder , major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder . “Hopefully that’ll help de-risk us a little bit,” Paul said, referring to the BI studies, noting Karuna doesn’t have an interest in testing GFB-887 in borderline personality disorder. Karuna’s compound has a longer half-life, Paul noted, meaning they’ll look to test once-daily dosing rather than BI’s twice-daily strategy. Karuna will announce more development plans in the second half of this year, Paul said. The executive, who swapped C-suite roles last year, is well-versed in CNS by way of decades at NIH, Eli Lilly and as co-founder of Sage Therapeutics and Voyager Therapeutics. For Goldfinch, the news means a “happy ending,” CEO Tony Johnson said in an interview. Karuna gets GFB-887 and the “full program,” including a “constellation of key molecules” associated with TRPC4/5, Johnson said. The money will go to an “assignment estate” of Goldfinch, as the Third Rock-launched biotech recently entered an assignment for the benefit of the creditors (ABC), an alternative to bankruptcy, Johnson told Endpoints last week. Thursday morning, Johnson said Goldfinch went through with the ABC because “you just can’t guarantee that a deal will be signed.” “They had identified TRPC4/5 as one of those exciting targets” in psychiatry, CFO and COO Kyle Kuvalanka said in an interview. “They had contacted us a while ago knowing that we had these backup compounds, and so this early interaction enabled them to move very quickly when we decided to stop developing ‘887 in kidney disease, but we had been talking to many other CNS and kidney companies.” Goldfinch was founded with support from kidney specialists, nephrologists and scientists steeped in that area, so the biotech set its sights on that space, Johnson said, noting while they were in Phase II, other opportunities came to light in neuroscience. “This is a very happy ending and maybe not where we started more than five years ago, but a happy ending nonetheless and a real opportunity for a different collection of patients who are also in need of new mechanisms and molecules,” Johnson said.