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Cash-strapped Fresh Tracks pauses R&D run as search for a buyer continues
Phase 1AcquisitionDrug ApprovalClinical ResultFinancial Statement
Fresh Tracks made "several strategic decisions to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and significantly reduce our operating costs,” CEO Andrew Sklawer said.
The walls seemed to be closing in on Fresh Tracks Therapeutics when, in March, the company began searching for a potential buyer to overcome its limited resources. But only now has the biotech revealed that its R&D work has been placed on pause to hold onto more cash.
The hunt for some near-term funds ledFresh Tracks Therapeuticsto sell off to Botanix Pharmaceuticals the rights to $168 million in potential milestone payments it was entitled to for the anticholinergic drug sofpironium bromide in return for just $6.6 million upfront. Botanix had already bought the overall rights to the drug, which was in late-stage development for excessive underarm sweating, the previous year.
Fresh Tracks said last month that this latest infusion of funds strengthened Botanix Pharmaceuticals management continues to “evaluate strategic options." These were previously noted to range from licensing osofpironium bromidether assets to a full sale or merger of thBotanixny.
If Fresh Tracks does decide to accept an offer to be acquired or merge with another biopharma, it would mark a surprisingly short life span for the rebranded company, which traded as Brickell Biotech until as recently as September. In the meantime, it turns out the biotech has already turned off the spending taps for its research pipeline.
“InFresh Tracksquarter of 2023, the company paused substantially all of its research and development activities in order to conserve capital resources during its ongoing evaluation ofBrickell Biotechegic options, which will dictate the company’s future path including to what extent the current pipeline continues to be developed,” Fresh Tracks announced in this morning’s second-quarter earnings report.
“Over the past few months, the board and management have made several strategic decisions to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and significantly reduce our operating costs,” CEO Andrew Sklawer added in the release. “We believe these decisions better position the company for potential strategic alternatives that could maximize shareholder value.”
With sofpironium bromide sold off, Fresh Track’s most advanced asset is FRTX-02, the first oral DYRK1A inhibitor to enter the clinic for an autoimmune condition. Back in March, the company touted phase 1 results showing that the therapy is a “generally safe and well-tolerated, once-daily oral treatment for a broad range of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.”
Yet tsofpironium bromideclinic is FRTX-10, an oral STING inhibitor beingFRTX-02ped for systemic DYRK1A inhibitorDYRK1Aerythematosus, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and dermatomyositis. It’s joined by FRTX-03, a topical DYRK1A inhibitor being sized up for various dermatology indications, while a kinase inhibitor program remains in the discoveautoimmune and inflammatory diseases
The recent R&D pullback already seFRTX-10be having STING inhibitorSTINGesired cash-saving effect, withsystemic lupus erythematosususnonalcoholic steatohepatitisn thedermatomyositis compared to $1.9FRTX-03n for the saDYRK1A inhibitorDYRK1Aiod in 2022. The biotech attributed this reduction in part to spending kinase inhibitor the DYRK1A inhibitor program.
Fresh Tracks expects the $8.9 million in cash and equivalents it ended June with—topped up by the $6.6 million from Botanix—to keep the lights on for at least 12 months.DYRK1A inhibitorDYRK1A
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