In an unusual pivot, Swiss biotech Basilea looks to ditch cancer pipeline in favor of — anti-infectives?
Oncology has been the single largest driver of revenues across biopharma for years now, and you’re more likely than ever to see a company ditch all other plans to chase that white rabbit. But a Swiss biotech is betting its future on a perpendicular path, opting to ditch its oncology assets instead.
Switzerland-based Basilea will look to offload its oncology pipeline in part or in full as part of a reorganization of its R&D pipeline around anti-infectives, including its two approved drugs in that space, the biotech said Tuesday.
Here’s how Basilea CEO David Veitch explained the rationale behind the decision:
Following a strategic review, we have decided to separate our activities in anti-infectives from oncology. Our two businesses are at different stages of development, requiring different approaches. For our oncology assets, we aim to optimize the value through either portfolio or individual asset transactions, with partners specialized in oncology. We will focus in the future on the research, development and commercialization of innovative treatments for severe bacterial and fungal infections. Basilea is uniquely positioned to benefit from the improving business environment for anti-infectives and to become a leading company in this space, based on its proven expertise in advancing anti-infectives through research and development to the market.
In the short term, at least through this year, Basilea will hold steady with one of its cancer drugs, the FGFR inhibitor derazantinib, in studies across intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and gastric cancer, while “deprioritizing” the drug’s trial in ovarian cancer.
The company plans to stop enrollment there across multiple cohorts after determining “patient enrolment has been challenging in these substudies, due to the evolving competitive environment in urothelial cancer treatment,” according to a release.
Basilea currently sports two other cancer drugs in its pipeline, according to the biotech’s website, in lisavanbulin and BAL0891, a checkpoint inhibitor.
Despite pitching the reorg as a matter of consolidating expertise, Basilea’s decision has a cash implication as well. The company said its restructuring plans will cut operating expenses by roughly 30% in 2023, putting the company on the path to profitability, Basilea said.
