Graybug seeks alternative options for eye drugs; RA-backed epilepsy outfit secures $40M Series C

28 Jun 2022
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Graybug Vision is in search of a new home about 21 months after landing on the Nasdaq. The ocular disease-focused biotech has seen its stock $GRAY plummet amid the biotech bear market, nosediving from a September 2020 listing at $16 to $1 territory the past few months. The Baltimore company’s stock is rebounding Tuesday morning, though, thanks to an announcement before the opening bell that the gene therapy developer would seek a strategic alternative thanks to the help of financial advisor Piper Sandler. With $55.3 million in the bank as of March 31, Graybug is looking to emerge from the doom and gloom via an “acquisition, company sale, merger, divestiture of assets, private placement of equity securities, or other strategic transactions,” the company said in a statement. But, like all such statements, Graybug cautioned that such transactions might never happen. Graybug has only made it into the clinic with one recombinant AAV-based gene therapy so far. That gene therapy, GB-102, went through Phase II studies in wet age-related macular degeneration. Another Phase II trial was slated to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, Graybug said in a May update. Graybug’s “vibrant vision” mission is also angled toward retinitis pigmentosa (GB-601), geographic atrophy (GB-701), glaucoma (GB-401) and corneal clouding (GB-501). That last asset was recently picked up via an acquisition of RainBio, a North Carolina startup, and was scheduled for a second-quarter 2023 trial start, the company said in May. GB-401 was also anticipated to enter human studies early next year. — Kyle LaHucik Cerebral Therapeutics walked away from its newest financing with $40 million in cash, thanks to a round led by Lynx1 Capital Management. The company said in a statement that it plans to use the money to complete its Phase II trial of an implanted, refillable catheter and pump system designed to deliver a continuous dose of CT-010. The drug is a reformulated version of valproic acid, first FDA-approved in the 1970s to treat absence seizures. The system aims to deliver the drug intracerebroventricularly, a more invasive injection technique that gets substances directly into the cerebrospinal fluid — bypassing the blood-brain barrier in the process and limiting the body’s exposure to a drug. Beyond that, the funds from the Series C will “support Phase 3 readiness,” according to a release. The planned indication is for uncontrolled seizures in patients with medically refractory epilepsy. Other investors that tagged onto the round include existing backers RA Capital Management, Perceptive Advisors, Vivo Capital LLC, and Granite Point Capital Management LP. RA had also backed the company’s Series B round in early 2020, where the biotech hauled $35 million to fund a Phase IIb trial for its drug/device combo system. — Paul Schloesser Massachusetts-based biotech Palleon Pharmaceuticals has announced a strategic collaboration with Shanghai’s Henlius Biotech. The partners will look to develop and commercialize two bifunctional sialidase programs from Palleon’s immuno-oncology platform, called EAGLE, or enzyme-antibody glyco-ligand editing. This deal will see Henlius developing Palleon’s bifunctional HER2-Sialidase now in preclinical development and a second bifunctional sialidase to be developed with a proprietary target provided by Henlius. “We’re very pleased to partner with Henlius to develop and expand Palleon’s pipeline to realize the potential of bifunctional sialidases as a treatment option for a wide range of cancer types,” said Jim Broderick, CEO and founder of Palleon. Under the terms of the agreement, Palleon will perform the research with the parties and then share preclinical and global clinical development responsibilities and costs for the Bifunctional HER2-Sialidase and a second bifunctional sialidase. Henlius has an exclusive license to the two investigational therapies in China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, while Palleon retains all other global rights. The second product will receive a royalty-bearing exclusive license to Henlius’ antibody technology outside China. Palleon received an upfront payment and is further eligible to receive up to $196.5 million in certain predetermined R&D and commercial milestones, in addition to royalties upon Henlius’ commercialization in China. Palleon, which is co-founded by the renowned chemist Carolyn Bertozzi, received a $100 million Series B in 2020 and has been building out its C-Suite with industry experts . Henlius has also been busy recently as the company netted a deal with Organon , which will pay $73 million upfront, plus up to $30 million in 2022 milestone payments, for two well-known brand copies that are in development. — Tyler Patchen
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