Health Check: Starpharma revs up on Big Pharma deal worth up to $855m

• Starpharma’s Genentech deal showcases the company’s dendrimer technology   
• PYC’s Rohan was goin’, now he’s stayin’
• Renerve launches new nerve repair product in the US

After years of seemingly spinning the wheels in the mud with its cancer program, Starpharma (ASX:SPL) has gained traction with an exclusive Big Pharma global licensing deal that saw its shares romp up 92% this morning.

The compact with Genentech brings in US$5.5 million ($8.3 million) of upfront readies. But there’s the potential for US$564 million ($855 million) in development, commercial and sales milestones.

Starpharma is also eligible for tiered royalties, should Genentech commercialise a drug.

Genentech is an arm of the Swiss-based, US$240 billion market cap Roche Group.

Starpharma will develop its dendrimer drug conjugates that incorporate Genentech medicines for “certain oncology targets”.

Genentech takes charge of developing and commercialising any products resulting from the tie-up.

Starpharma will kick off commence development activities “immediately” and “work exclusively with Genentech in relation to those targets”.

The deal is based around Starpharma’s flagship dendrimer enhanced product (DEP) platform.

The Star is DEP

Yep, DEP stars in this one and it could be as big as Pirates of the Caribbean.

Before you ask, dendrimers are nanoscale polymers aimed at improving drug efficacy and reducing side effects. These include bone marrow toxicity and hair loss.

The company’s oncology programs involve combining the dendrimer with three existing drugs. The trials cover cancers including colorectal, ovarian, prostate and gastro-oesophageal tumours.

Starpharma CEO Cheryl Maley says the deal stems from an existing three-year research collab with Genentech.

“Genentech’s world-class scientific expertise makes them an ideal collaborator,” she says.

Meanwhile, Johnny Depp’s fortunes have taken a turn for the worse, after his pet bull mastiff Bourbon reportedly mauled two sheep to death.

PYC reshuffles board but ‘unshuffles’ CEO

Having flagged the departure of CEO Dr Rohan Hockings, PYC Therapeutics (ASX:PYC) now says its long-serving chieftain is staying.

PYC last Wednesday said Hockings would depart by November 16.

Now, the company has re-appointed him at least until the end of 2027.

Hockings will “resume responsibility for progressing the company’s pipeline of drug candidates with disease-modifying potential, through critical near-term human safety and efficacy read-outs”.

Formerly known as Phylogica, PYC is developing RNA therapies for select genetic diseases.

The company has a phase I/II program for a rare eye disease retinitis pigmentosa type II and slightly less advanced studies in autosomal dominant eye atrophy and polycystic kidney disease.

PYC also has collared ophthalmology guru Professor Ian Constable as a non-executive director. US-based directors Dr Michael Rosenblatt and Jason Haddock have resigned.

Now with three directors, the board has scheduled its next meeting in a phone box.

Chairman and 32% shareholder Alan Tribe was to have assumed CEO duties, pending a permanent replacement. It’s now a case of ‘as you were’.

PYC says it will “build out both the board and executive management team over the coming months … as the company progresses multiple drug candidates with disease-modifying potential into late-stage clinical development.”

PYC shares fell 36 cents, or 30% after the news of Hockings’ departure, wiping $209 million off the company’s market cap.

Today they recovered up to 15 cents, or 17%.

Renerve launches ‘complementary’ product line

ReNerve (ASX:RNV) has launched its Empliq dermal deep layer matrix in the US, supplementing the company’s existing nerve repair portolio.

The product, Empliq Dermal, applies to reconstructive and cosmetic surgery.

In August the company said the dermal product had been used for the first time in plastic surgery breast reconstruction.

The case did not require nerve repair, thus extending targeted surgical uses for both new and existing customers.

Renerve expects to launch further Empliq lines very soon.

These include amniotic and placental allograft products. Uses include diabetes foot and venous leg ulcers, surgical wounds and protecting vulnerable tissue.

Renerve already is marketing its FDA-approved Nervalign nerve cuff, a bioabsorbable protective wrap.

“The launch of the Empliq range is a key step in our strategy to provide a broad suite of products to surgeons, while it complements our existing nerve repair product range,” CEO Dr Julian Chick says.

Renerve will showcase Empliq at the American Society for Surgery of the Hand conference, to be held in Vancouver next month.

Yep – surgery is a specialist discipline these days and we wouldn’t be surprised if thumb specialists formed their own splinter group.

Renerve developed Empliq with its partner, Berkeley Biologics.

Marketwide Research estimates the global dermal and amniotic tissue market will be worth more than $1.5 billion in 2026 – and double that by 2032.

Island to meet with the FDA for trial chit-chat

Island Pharmaceuticals (ASX:ILA) is off the FDA to discuss the company’s Investigational New Drug Application (IND), to test its acquired galidesivir to treat Marburg virus disease.

An IND is permission to trial an unapproved substance.

In July Island acquired galidesivir, an antiviral candidate, from the North Carolina-based, Nasdaq-listed, Biocryst Pharmaceuticals for up to $3.8 million.

The FDA has granted Island’s a Type C meeting. The parties will discuss the agency’s stance on using the so-called ‘animal rule’, which applies when testing a drug on a human is too dangerous.

In these cases, the FDA might approve treatments based on “adequate and well-controlled” animal efficacy studies.

A hideous haemorrhagic disease alongside Ebola, Marburg would seem to fit the bill.

To date, no Australian company has used the concession … but there’s always a first.

US authorities have been keenly interested in galidesivir’s development, because of the potential for Ebola and Marburg to be used in germ warfare.

Island also hopes the FDA will grant a potentially lucrative priority review voucher.

Concurrently, Island is discussing a potential Marburg study with potential partners.

“This study remains on track to commence and complete in the next quarter,” the company says.

A broad spectrum anti-viral, galidesivir is claimed to be effective against more than 20 viruses including yellow fever and Zika.

Island shares lifted 19% after Friday’s disclosure and this morning investors added up to 7% more.