Cash crunch forces Kineta to shutter trial, cut 64% of workforce
Kineta unveiled a major corporate restructuring on Thursday after key investors backed out of providing expected funding. The company is cutting 64% of its staff, including CEO Shawn Iadonato, and stopping new patient enrollment in an ongoing Phase I/II study of its VISTA-blocking cancer drug KVA12123.
Kineta, whose shares were down as much as 35% on the news, said it still believes in KVA12123's potential, but had to stop recruiting the VISTA-101 trial after "certain investors… indicated they will not fulfill their funding obligations pursuant the previously disclosed second tranche of the company's contemplated private placement [in April]." Patients already enrolled will continue receiving treatment.
Iadonato, who will stay on the board while advising the company through the rest of the year, said "we continue to believe in the promise of KVA12123 and are enthusiastic about the trial data that has been collected to date."
Earlier this year, analysts were encouraged by initial VISTA-101 data. Kineta had cleared the first four dose escalation level cohorts for KVA12123 monotherapy and the first dose escalation cohort for KVA12123 plus Merck & Co.'s Keytruda (pembrolizumab), with no dose-limiting toxicities.
"VISTA blockade could improve anti-PD1/L1 response rates," the analysts said, highlighting preclinical in vivo experiments in which KVA12123 had shown "encouraging monotherapy activity, as well as incremental anti-tumour activity when combined with anti-PD1 agents." VISTA is a negative regulatory molecule that can promote effector T-cell infiltration and function, enhance NK cell and monocyte activation, and inhibit myeloid-derived suppressor cells, they added.
H.C. Wainwright predicted additional results from the trial in the second-quarter, but with development now largely shuttered, the future of KVA12123 is unclear. Kineta said it has launched a process to weigh strategic options including a potential sale or licensing of assets, a sale of the company, or merger, among other alternatives.
Sensei Biotherapeutics is also working on a VISTA-blocking antibody; last November it unveiled dose escalation data for SNS-101 monotherapy that it said showed "potentially best-in-class pharmacokinetics, and [an] encouraging cytokine release profile across multiple dose cohorts."
For more details,please visit the original website
The content of the article does not represent any opinions of Synapse and its affiliated companies. If there is any copyright infringement or error, please contact us, and we will deal with it within 24 hours.
Indications
Drugs
Chat with Hiro
Hot reports
Get started for free today!
Accelerate Strategic R&D decision making with Synapse, PatSnap’s AI-powered Connected Innovation Intelligence Platform Built for Life Sciences Professionals.
Start your data trial now!
Synapse data is also accessible to external entities via APIs or data packages. Empower better decisions with the latest in pharmaceutical intelligence.