A new year means new culls as the biotech industry continues to rightsize after a 2022 marked by sometimes glutenous clinical ambitions that couldn’t be financially maintained.
Thus is the case for both Annexon and Liminal BioSciences, which are both adjusting ambitions early as they look to funnel cash toward the right assets. For Annexon, that means stopping clinical development of its top asset, ANX005, as a treatment for warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (wAIHA). The company said Monday that there were mixed findings among five treated patients with wAIHA in a phase 2 signal-finding study and, as a result, the company is ending further development of that indication with ANX005.
The same study was also assessing ANX005 as a treatment for cold agglutinin disease (CAD) and while Annexon did not explicitly say it was ending development for that condition as well, CAD is absent from ANX005’s indications in the company’s pipeline. Annexon says it plans to look at anti-C1q drug candidates, including ANX105, for the treatment of diseases like CAD.
Liminal BioSciences had a less specific update Monday, saying only that it was divesting from “non-core assets” to save cash and focus on its two near-clinical stages assets, a plan that includes potential outlicensing opportunities. The company currently has more than $26.5 million on hand, enough to last into early 2024. The focus now is on the company’s selective GPR84 antagonist and selective OXER1 antagonist. The former is slated for the clinic in 2023 while the OXER1 antagonist is gearing up for IND-enabling studies.
Both Annexon and Liminal’s shares were unmoved following the news.