Chimerix places its bets on On­co­ceu­tic­s' dopamine an­tag­o­nist for rare brain can­cer in quest to sal­vage its im­age

In the clin­i­cal waste­land of ag­gres­sive brain can­cers, Philly’s On­co­ceu­tics has churned out promis­ing da­ta with a Phase II can­di­date on the verge of an FDA fil­ing. Chimerix, look­ing to turn around its rep­u­ta­tion — and share price — has jumped on board, putting half-a-bil­lion-dol­lar hopes in On­co­ceu­tics’ drug.

Chimerix will ac­quire pri­vate biotech On­co­ceu­tics and lead can­di­date ONC-201, an oral small mol­e­cule dopamine re­cep­tor D2 an­tag­o­nist and ca­seinolyt­ic pro­tease ag­o­nist cur­rent­ly be­ing test­ed in a Phase II tri­al against re­cur­rent glioma, a form of brain can­cer with a par­tic­u­lar­ly poor prog­no­sis, the com­pa­nies said Fri­day.

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