Vlad Coric charts course for new Biohaven with neuroscience push and Big Pharma vets on board

04 Oct 2022
endpts.com
What’s Biohaven without its CGRP portfolio? That’s what CEO Vlad Coric is tasked with deciding as he maps out the new Biohaven post-Pfizer takeover. Pfizer officially scooped up Biohaven’s CGRP assets on Monday, including blockbuster migraine drug Nurtec and the investigational zavegepant, for $11.6 billion. As a result, Coric spun the broader pipeline into an independent company on Tuesday — with the same R&D team behind Nurtec but about 1,000 fewer staffers and a renewed focus on neuroscience and rare disease. Shares $BHVN were up 13% on Tuesday afternoon, pricing in around $7.91 apiece. “A lot of large pharma left that area and it’s created significant opportunity,” Coric said of the neuro space. “A seasoned R&D team like ours, we’ve proven you can be successful in neuroscience.” He’s also bringing in a couple more experts, including Bristol Myers Squibb and Agios vet Bruce Car as CSO and Alnylam, Sanofi and Bristol Myers alum Tanya Fischer as chief development officer and head of translational medicine. Right now it’s full steam ahead on a Kv7 ion channel modulator in adult focal epilepsy, as the company deprioritizes two separate ALS and Alzheimer’s programs in the wake of recent failures. Verdiperstat flunked an arm of an ALS platform trial led by Massachusetts General Hospital, Biohaven revealed last week. And its version of riluzole — one of the two drugs approved for ALS — failed an Alzheimer’s trial several months earlier. “We’ll meet with the experts and decide on whether it makes sense to look at other neurodegenerative disorders,” Coric said. “Haven’t ruled those out yet, but they certainly will be deprioritized behind Kv7 and troriluzole.” Deficits in Kv7, a potassium-gated ion channel, result in hyperexcitable neurons, which can then lead to seizure in those with epilepsy, Coric explained. Biohaven is looking to normalize those hyperactive neurons, thus reducing seizures with minimal side effects. Xenon Pharmaceuticals released topline data on its own Kv7 candidate in adult focal epilepsy last year, demonstrating that treatment with XEN1101 led to a significant reduction from baseline in monthly seizure frequency compared to placebo (p<0.001). “There was data out last year from Xenon demonstrating increased efficacy compared to the older anticonvulsants and a better safety profile, and so we believe the Kv7 mechanism has been de-risked,” he said. Coric isn’t worried about the competition, though. He’s planning on launching two parallel Phase II/III trials next year, comparing the situation to Ubrelvy , which beat Nurtec to market as an acute migraine treatment. “It’s kind of like when you look back to what we did with Nurtec,” he said. “We know Ubrelvy was a little bit ahead of us at Allergan/AbbVie. We ran three parallel trials so if they were positive we could file, and then we ended up launching around the same time.” There’s also taldefgrobep alfa, Biohaven’s Phase III SMA compound from Bristol Myers. The company’s hoping to finish enrollment by next year and read out data by the following year. “I think after Kv7, the next focus will be our glutamate modulators. And then we have a whole host of other assets. We have myostatin assets for spinal muscular atrophy and then a degrader program,” Coric said. “So quite a broad array of assets, and starting off with a good amount of money from the Pfizer transaction, $258 (million) cash and no debt and really excited about next year.”
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