California-based drug developer cAMPfield Therapeutics launched Thursday with a $180 million Series A round to research a potential oral alternative to potent biological drugs like Humira and Entyvio for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.
The drug, prifemilast, is part of a class of drugs that inhibit the enzyme “PDE4” and have been successful against inflammatory conditions like psoriasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. Prifemilast originated with vTv Therapeutics, which licensed it in 2018 to Newsoara Biopharma for China, South Korea and a number of Southeast Asian nations and has since expanded the deal to include worldwide rights. cAMPfield has now secured rights outside of China.
Inflammatory bowel disease remains a ripe area for clinical development and dealmaking as drugs from Abivax and Spyre Therapeutics have drawn interest from investors while Blackstone has put $400 million into a drug being researched by Teva Pharmaceutical and Sanofi.
cAMPfield is resting its hopes on the selectivity of prifemilast, which specifically goes after “PDE4B,” which is linked more strongly to anti-inflammatory activity. It has less affinity toward “PDE4D,” a different one of the enzyme’s subtypes that’s “believed to contribute to dose-limiting adverse effects,” the company said.
“Despite the availability of more than a dozen approved therapies for IBD, most patients fail to achieve deep and durable remission, while others discontinue or switch treatments because of limitations in safety or long-term effectiveness," said Bill Gerhart, cAMPfield’s CEO, in a statement.
PDE4s have struggled to gain traction in gastrointestinal disease in the past because of side effects like nausea. But cAMPfield said the prifemilast studies so far have “demonstrated robust efficacy” in psoriasis, which has similar biological markers, while being tolerable and having “treatment discontinuation rates comparable to those observed for participants on placebo.”
To support the clinical work, cAMPfield has assembled a team of founders that include Asit Parikh, a former Takeda executive who led development of Entyvio; Keith Usiskin, a former Celgene and Bristol Myers Squibb executive in charge of advancing Otezla and Zeposia for IBD; and Mark Stenhouse, a former AbbVie sales and marketing vice president involved in Humira’s commercialization.
cAMPfield’s round was led by Frazier Life Sciences and joined by Deep Track Capital, Forbion, Abingworth, Venrock, Longitude Capital, Novo Holdings and RA Capital.
