RE: Nimbus6 Sep 2023 14:08
Takeda was motivated by an early look at positive data from a Phase IIb trial in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, where it could compete head-to-head with Bristol Myers Squibb’s pill Sotyktu.
Next-gen psoriasis drug rivalry between Bristol Myers and Nimbus spills into a legal battle
But both BMS and Takeda are betting that TYK2 inhibitors will also provide relief in other common conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, psoriatic arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. Its acquisition of the molecule, now dubbed TAK-279, closed in February.
“The majority of the capital we got from that transaction we returned to all of our investors and equity holders,” Keiper said. “It’s really important for a company that’s been private for 14 years to provide return paths for investors.”
A ‘head-to-head race’ with Pfizer
Nimbus’s only clinical-stage program is small molecule immunotherapy that’s in a Phase I/II trial in solid tumors. The pill inhibits an enzyme called hematopoietic progenitor kinase 1, or HPK1, to activate both innate and adaptive arms of the immune system.
While many companies have tried and failed to find cancer drugs that bolster the efficacy of commercial checkpoint inhibitors, Keiper hopes his HPK1 inhibitor will be different because it appears to have potent anticancer activity on its own, clearing mice of their cancer in preclinical studies, he said. Pfizer has a competing HPK1 inhibitor in a Phase I study.
“We are kind of in a head-to-head race,” Keiper said. Nimbus has already privately shared data from its ongoing study with investors and plans to give an update at an upcoming medical conference, he said.
Keiper said that the funds will be used across all of his company’s programs, but its press release singled out two it wants to move into the clinic: an undisclosed autoimmune disease program and an inhibitor of Werner syndrome helicase. That enzyme is essential for DNA replication and repair, and blocking it may make certain tumors more vulnerable to other drugs.
The company has other preclinical programs for cancer and immune targets and a partnership with Eli Lilly focused on drugs for metabolic disorders.
Keiper said the new financing gives Nimbus “years” of runway, but he wouldn’t disclose timelines for when it expects to start new trials.
“Our model has never been to be a huge company,” Keiper said. “There might be some modest growth, but I don’t think we need a big expansion.”
Other participants in Nimbus’ latest financing include returning investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, BVF Partners L.P., Lightstone Ventures, Pfizer Ventures, RA Capital Management, and SV Health Investors. An anonymous life science fund based in the US participated as well.
Many of those investors have stuck with the company for years, and many others have told Keiper they’d love to invest if Nimbus went public.
“We’ve thought about it,” he sa
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