Dive Brief:
- Privately held Irish biotech DS Biopharma said Monday it is spinning out several of its assets to create a new company that will focus on fibrotic diseases, including non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
- The new company will be called Afimmune and will continue the development of DS Biopharma's DS102 for NASH.
- Afimmune already has a number of compounds in pre-clinical development as well.
Dive Insight:
Afimmune will be entering two competitive areas. Diseases like IPF and COPD already have a number of approved treatments on the market, including therapies from pharma heavyweights such as GlaxoSmithKline and Roche.
Meanwhile, NASH has become a hot space as well – albeit one that currently has no approved therapies. Companies like Shire and Intercept Pharmaceuticals have been racing to get a drug approved, but development has not been easy. Intercept's drug missed the mark in a Phase II trial in 2015.
Afimmune will begin a Phase 2a study of its DS102 in NASH later this year. The company will also begin a Phase 2a study of the drug in COPD based on the preclinical data.
"By spinning out DS102 into a new company, DS Biopharma can direct its full attention to developing products for inflammatory skin conditions whereas Afimmune will focus on fibrotic conditions and pulmonary disorders," said DS Biopharma Executive Chairman John Climax in a statement.
DS Biopharma will now focus its resources on DS107, a treatment anti-inflammatory compound for atopic dermatitis, and DS109, a medication for inflammatory skin disorders.