DICE, Odyssey, Fred Hutch, Merck (MSD)

One biotech is on a roll, another is moving quickly, Amazon money for cancer, and some clinical development news


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Story References
DICE
Odyssey
Fred Hutch
Merck (MSD), Merck Story 2

About the Show
Life Science Today is your source for stories, insights, and trends across the life science industry. Expect weekly highlights about new technologies, pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions, news about the moves of venture capital and private equity, and how the stock market responds to biotech IPOs. Life Science Today also explores trends around clinical research, including the evolving patterns that determine how drugs and therapies are developed and approved. It’s news, with a dash of perspective, focused on the life science industry. 

Transcript

Introduction

Welcome to Life Science Today, your source for stories, insights, and trends across the life science industry. I’m your host, Dr. Noah Goodson. This week, one biotech is on a roll, another is moving quickly, Amazon money for cancer, and some clinical development news . 

Disclaimer

The views expressed on Life Science Today are those of the host and guests. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any organizations with which they are affiliated. 

DICE Roles Sixes with $300M Upsized Public Offering and Positive Clinical Data

DICE Therapeutics announced an upsized public offering, raising $300M on and seeing their stock prices double on positive topline news for their leading candidate. The results from a Phase I study of Oral IL-17 Antagonist to treat psoriasis were extremely promising. The phase I study first showed good tolerability and safety in healthy patients, a favorable pharmacokinetic profile, and robust health and safety data. On top of that, preliminary results suggest it may be a best in class with initial results showing a 43.7% reduction in psoriasis measured by the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index. For a condition that impacts more than 125M people globally, there is certainly room for additional therapies. Psoriasis has seen a number of recent approvals, with BMS’ Sotyktu earning approval just a month ago for plaque psoriasis, but DICE thinks there is room for more. And with this promising initial data they certainly have a chance to make an impact in the therapeutics area if their data continue to validate the results. To put their new found capital and doubled market value to use, DICE plans to head to the FDA with an IND next year and roll out a phase IIB study trial. 

$168M Series B

Odyssey Therapeutics has raised a $168M Series B to advance their pipeline of 8 candidates to clinical stage in the next two years. They launched less than a year ago with a stunning $218M series A, to drive their drug development platform. Now, just 10 months later they are adding a significant chunk of change to their war chest. So how are they fueling this growth? Their approach is to is to focus on currently undruggable targets. Along the way they scooped up the machine learning and computational chemistry company Rahko. But just where that fits into their organizational pipeline is unclear. They remain committed to moving to clinical phase in 2023 or 24’, but just what their pipeline will target is yet to be revealed. I expect on the backs of this funding round we will learn more. But, to move at this rate of raising in this market they either have some pretty exciting backend data to justify rapid significant investment, or they have a really exciting group of investors that many a biotech would love to meet. What we do know is have some great support with the former CEO of Vertex joining as chairman of the board early this summer. This round of funding, the additional board member, and the truncated timeframes place Odyssey at the top of noteworthy Biotech startups in 2022.

Fred Hutch Gets $700M Gift from Amazon Money

While Jeff Bezos may excel at making money, his relatives (and ex-relatives) seem to be quite adept at giving it away. Thanks to his success and their generosity, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer center will be receiving over $710M across the next decade to finance basic, translational, and clinical research. The funders in this case are none other than Jeff’s parents Jackie and Mike. The Seattle based cancer facility will use the funds to expand labs for 36 new primary investigators, build a massive precision oncology ward, and generally pour fuel on the research endeavors. Life Sciences are an integrated ecosystem. Investments like this in research at key facilities ultimately are part of what fuels innovation – So many biotech’s are birthed out of ecosystems just like this. And even in the world of high end giving to academic and medical institutions, $700M is an eyebrow raising amount.  

Merck’s Success and Partnerships 

Two quick stories from Merck (MSD outside the US) this week. The first is the release of positive topline data from their Phase III trial of sotatercept, the pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) treatment which is delivered via subcutaneous injection. Treatment with the fusion protein showed significant improvement compared to the placebo control in the primary endpoints and eight out of nine secondary endpoints. Merck plans to head straight to regulatory agencies next year with these positive clinical and stable health and safety data. The therapy itself was acquired as part of the $11B Acceleron acquisition last year, with current indicators suggesting the investment will payoff. 

In more publicized news this week, Merck is exercising a $250M option to develop and commercialize a cancer vaccine from Moderna, mRNA-4147, in combination with their best-selling Keytruda. This therapy targets high-risk melanoma. The idea behind the personalized cancer vaccine is to increase the patient’s immune response through the creation of neoantigens that stimulate t-cells. The current study explores the therapy in combination with Keytruda. While the payout is good news for Moderna, cancer vaccines have yet to show late-stage clinical benefit, though there are a number of promising candidates currently in clinical trials. According to clinicaltrials.gov there are currently 1025 clinical trials that are active or recruiting and include Keytruda. While exercising this option and running this study may receive more press because of the inclusion of Moderna and does represent a sizable cash payout, it is also just one more study for Merck’s blockbuster. 

Closing Credits

Thanks for joining me for Life Science Today, your source for stories, insights, and trends across the life science industry. Learn more at LifeScienceTodayPodcast.com. If you like what you hear, please tell a friend. Once again, I’m Dr. Noah Goodson, I’ll see you next week. 

About the Show

Life Science Today is your source for stories, insights, and trends across the life science industry. Expect weekly highlights about new technologies, pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions, news about the moves of venture capital and private equity, and how the stock market responds to biotech IPOs. Life Science Today also explores trends around clinical research, including the evolving patterns that determine how drugs and therapies are developed and approved. It’s news, with a dash of perspective, focused on the life science industry.