Chuck Wil­son Unum

The drum­beat of bad news at Unum Ther­a­peu­tics just won’t stop.

In a fil­ing with the SEC to­day, the trou­bled biotech re­port­ed that its ex­per­i­men­tal ther­a­py AC­TR707 — used in com­bi­na­tion with rit­ux­imab in pa­tients with CD20+ B cell non-Hodgkin lym­phoma — may have been re­spon­si­ble for a pos­si­ble new ma­lig­nan­cy. The FDA slapped a par­tial hold on the study March 4 while the agency and the biotech ex­plore what hap­pened to trig­ger the Grade 3 SAE.

Unum’s stock, which had al­ready sunk deep in­to pen­ny stock ter­rain, dropped 5% Mon­day evening af­ter an 8% drop over the day, leav­ing the stock at 46 cents. The com­pa­ny is helmed by Chuck Wil­son and chaired by At­las’ Bruce Booth. And they’ve had to deal with one set­back af­ter the next since fil­ing to go pub­lic 2 years ago.

The hold came ex­act­ly 2 days af­ter the biotech re­port­ed that it was re­struc­tur­ing the com­pa­ny, lay­ing off 60% of the staff, and re­fo­cus­ing ef­forts away from the trou­ble­some AC­TR707 in fa­vor of a pre­clin­i­cal sol­id tu­mor ef­fort in the pipeline. At the same time, CSO Seth Et­ten­berg re­signed af­ter 5 years with Unum.

Seth Et­ten­berg Unum

Last sum­mer the biotech re­port­ed that its then pre­mier drug — AC­TR087 — was linked to se­ri­ous ad­verse events that in­clud­ed grade 3 neu­ro­tox­i­c­i­ty and cy­tomegalovirus in­fec­tion as well as grade 4 res­pi­ra­to­ry dis­tress, trig­ger­ing a hold. That came af­ter the IPO, when Unum wait­ed un­til it filed the S-1 to re­port that their drug was linked to two deaths — with 2 cas­es of AC­TR087-re­lat­ed se­vere CRS while one pa­tient died from AC­TR087-re­lat­ed neu­ro­tox­i­c­i­ty.

That al­so trig­gered a hold which was lift­ed just ahead of the IPO.

Unum plans to file an IND ap­pli­ca­tion for BOXR1030 in late 2020 as it works to get back in­to the clin­ic. It has a long way to go, though, in restor­ing faith among in­vestors.

So­cial im­age: Chuck Wil­son, Unum Ther­a­peu­tics

The FDA’s Arthritis Advisory Committee on Thursday voted 10 for and 8 against the approval of ChemoCentryx’s $CCXI investigational drug avacopan as a treatment for adults with a rare and serious disease known as anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-vasculitis.

The vote on whether the FDA should approve the drug was preceded by a split vote of 9 to 9 on whether the efficacy data support approval, and 10 to 8 that the safety profile of avacopan is adequate enough to support approval.

Most deals in biotech come with hefty upfront payments attached, and the promise of big biobucks if a program works out. Not this one.

Nkarta has struck what CEO Paul Hastings calls a “real collaboration” with CRISPR Therapeutics to co-develop and commercialize two CAR-NK therapies, in addition to an NK+T program. The duo will split all R&D costs — and any worldwide profits — 50/50, Hastings said.

As if Biogen’s aducanumab isn’t controversial enough, the researchers at drug pricing watchdog ICER have drawn up the contours of a new debate: If the therapy does get approved for Alzheimer’s by June, what price should it command?

Their answer: At most $8,290 per year — and perhaps as little as $2,560.

Even at the top of the range, the proposed price is a fraction of the $50,000 that Wall Street has reportedly come to expect (although RBC analyst Brian Abrahams puts the consensus figure at $11.5K). With critics, including experts on the FDA’s advisory committee, making their fierce opposition to aducanumab’s approval loud and clear, the pricing pressure adds one extra wrinkle Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos doesn’t need as he orders full-steam preparation for a launch.