Ignota Labs has harvested more assets for its drug candidate rehabilitation scheme, snapping up Kronos Bio’s clinical pipeline months after a series of setbacks drove the biotech off public markets.
U.K.-based Ignota has created software for identifying the root causes of drug safety problems. The goal is to improve safety without compromising efficacy. Ignota is applying the system to drug candidates that were derailed by safety setbacks. Sam Windsor, co-founder and CEO at Ignota, explained the business model in a statement.
“We are acquiring assets that have demonstrated therapeutic effect, but failed in their development and were shelved despite tens of millions of dollars already invested in them,” Windsor said. “This is where Ignota Labs come in: unlocking value by turning around failing drugs so that they can quickly get back into clinical trials and bring fresh hope to the patients waiting for these drugs.”
Ignota has identified Kronos’ clinical pipeline as a good fit for the model. The deal covers CDK9 inhibitor istisociclib and two SYK inhibitors, entospletinib and lanraplenib. Kronos stopped work on the assets for a range of reasons over the past few years, triggering waves of layoffs and culminating in its acceptance of a buyout bid from Concentra Biosciences.
Ignota’s pipeline lists SYK as its most advanced target. Kronos stopped a phase 3 trial of entospletinib in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in 2022 because of enrollment problems. The biotech dropped plans to advance lanraplenib in AML after seeing phase 1b data. Ignota’s SYK work is focused on autoimmune disease immune thrombocytopenic purpura and blood cancer chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Kronos stopped development of istisociclib in response to neurological side effects. Ignota has identified an opportunity to salvage the candidate by reducing brain penetration and optimizing pharmacokinetics. The biotech’s pipeline lists the CDK9 program at the “solve” stage, which precedes candidate selection in the rescue process.
A spokesperson for Ignota said the assets were acquired for less than $300,000, including all fees. The deal includes a trigger for Kronos’ shareholders if the drugs make it back to phase 3 trials, according to the spokesperson.