A new Vega enters the galaxy with bleeding disorder antibody set for 2023 trial
A new Vega enters the galaxy with bleeding disorder antibody set for 2023 trial
December 6, 2022
December 6, 2022
By: Kyle LaHucik, Endpoints
By: Kyle LaHucik, Endpoints
Biotech incubator Star Therapeutics has launched another galaxy-themed drug developer, which next year will test a new antibody in a bleeding disorder currently treated by Takeda’s Vonvendi.
Star lined up a who’s who of biotech venture capital firms to line Vega Therapeutics’ coffers with $40 million. The funds will bankroll a Phase I study early next year as the biotech recently got the go-ahead from Austrian authorities, CEO Adam Rosenthal told Endpoints News in a preview of the unveiling. The biotech will test whether a monoclonal antibody can treat one of the most common forms of inherited bleeding disorders: von Willebrand disease, or VWD.
Takeda received the FDA green light earlier this year for its von Willebrand factor replacement therapy, known as Vonvendi in the US and Japan and Veyvondi in the European Union, as a prophylaxis to make bleeding episodes less frequent. By Takeda’s tally, the bleeding disorder is found in 1 in 100 Americans.
While much further behind on the development path than its Big Pharma peer, Vega wants to test a monoclonal antibody that alters protein S, which is involved in the blood clotting formation process. Just days after breaking cover, the upstart will present preclinical in vitro data on VGA039, as the internally-derived asset is known, at the annual American Society of Hematology conference this weekend in New Orleans. At the confab, Rosenthal said he expects to foster partnering discussions with potential collaborators.
Like how Hemlibra changed the hemophilia A treatment landscape as a subcutaneous antibody rather than factor replacement therapy, Rosenthal envisions a similar path for Vega’s own subcutaneous asset in VWD and potentially other bleeding disorders.
VWD affects men and women and is marked by low amounts of VW factor, which means insufficient platelet adhesion can lead to poor clot formation and bleeding. VWD can lead to heavy menstrual bleeding, Rosenthal said.
Westlake Village BioPartners, OrbiMed, Redmile Group, RA Capital, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Cormorant and New Leaf Venture Partners are capitalizing the company.
Star launched its first constellation, Electra Therapeutics, earlier this year to take on the SIRP pathway in immunology and cancer. Both Electra and Vega are led by the same management team, which includes former R&D leaders for the approved rare disease drug Enjaymo, which went through one acquisition after another — True North Therapeutics to Bioverativ to Sanofi.
More Star-created biotechs are in the works, Rosenthal said, declining to break cover on any additional startups. Star typically reveals new spinoffs once they’re ready for the clinic, he noted, saying each takes a “big swing” that goes “deep” into a new area of biology.
“We view these thousands of rare diseases almost like stars in the night sky. Individually, the vast number of stars seems overwhelming, but if you group them together, like constellations in the sky,” Rosenthal said, “we find that diseases that share a common path of biology can be treated potentially in the same way using a single therapy.”
Alongside Rosenthal in the C-suite are CSO Sandip Panicker, CMO Gary Patou and COO Kathy Dong.
Star is not the first to bring forth a Vega Therapeutics. The University of Michigan and UC San Diego did so shortly after the 2008 financial crisis. But the startup, led by current Surrozen CEO Craig Parker, appears to have quietly shuttered.
Biotech incubator Star Therapeutics has launched another galaxy-themed drug developer, which next year will test a new antibody in a bleeding disorder currently treated by Takeda’s Vonvendi.
Star lined up a who’s who of biotech venture capital firms to line Vega Therapeutics’ coffers with $40 million. The funds will bankroll a Phase I study early next year as the biotech recently got the go-ahead from Austrian authorities, CEO Adam Rosenthal told Endpoints News in a preview of the unveiling. The biotech will test whether a monoclonal antibody can treat one of the most common forms of inherited bleeding disorders: von Willebrand disease, or VWD.
Takeda received the FDA green light earlier this year for its von Willebrand factor replacement therapy, known as Vonvendi in the US and Japan and Veyvondi in the European Union, as a prophylaxis to make bleeding episodes less frequent. By Takeda’s tally, the bleeding disorder is found in 1 in 100 Americans.
While much further behind on the development path than its Big Pharma peer, Vega wants to test a monoclonal antibody that alters protein S, which is involved in the blood clotting formation process. Just days after breaking cover, the upstart will present preclinical in vitro data on VGA039, as the internally-derived asset is known, at the annual American Society of Hematology conference this weekend in New Orleans. At the confab, Rosenthal said he expects to foster partnering discussions with potential collaborators.
Like how Hemlibra changed the hemophilia A treatment landscape as a subcutaneous antibody rather than factor replacement therapy, Rosenthal envisions a similar path for Vega’s own subcutaneous asset in VWD and potentially other bleeding disorders.
VWD affects men and women and is marked by low amounts of VW factor, which means insufficient platelet adhesion can lead to poor clot formation and bleeding. VWD can lead to heavy menstrual bleeding, Rosenthal said.
Westlake Village BioPartners, OrbiMed, Redmile Group, RA Capital, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Cormorant and New Leaf Venture Partners are capitalizing the company.
Star launched its first constellation, Electra Therapeutics, earlier this year to take on the SIRP pathway in immunology and cancer. Both Electra and Vega are led by the same management team, which includes former R&D leaders for the approved rare disease drug Enjaymo, which went through one acquisition after another — True North Therapeutics to Bioverativ to Sanofi.
More Star-created biotechs are in the works, Rosenthal said, declining to break cover on any additional startups. Star typically reveals new spinoffs once they’re ready for the clinic, he noted, saying each takes a “big swing” that goes “deep” into a new area of biology.
“We view these thousands of rare diseases almost like stars in the night sky. Individually, the vast number of stars seems overwhelming, but if you group them together, like constellations in the sky,” Rosenthal said, “we find that diseases that share a common path of biology can be treated potentially in the same way using a single therapy.”
Alongside Rosenthal in the C-suite are CSO Sandip Panicker, CMO Gary Patou and COO Kathy Dong.
Star is not the first to bring forth a Vega Therapeutics. The University of Michigan and UC San Diego did so shortly after the 2008 financial crisis. But the startup, led by current Surrozen CEO Craig Parker, appears to have quietly shuttered.