BioInvent cardiovascular, cancer news

For the second time since June, BioInvent announced plans to reduce headcount, this time by 20 (29%) to 48. After the reductions, full-time R&D headcount will be 39. The company will focus R&D on its cancer programs, including BI-505, which is in Phase I testing for multiple myeloma (MM), and two undisclosed compounds slated to begin preclinical testing next year. BI-505 is a human mAb against intercellular adhesion molecule-1 ( ICAM-1; CD54). BioInvent said next year's expenses would be reduced by SEK75 million ($11.4 million). The company reported total costs of SEK161 million ($23 million) for the first six months of 2012. BioInvent will also increase efforts to find new partners to license rights to its n-CoDeR antibody library. The company has five deals in place to develop antibody products using n-CoDeR, including deals with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. (Tokyo:4568; Osaka:4568, Tokyo, Japan); Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:HGSI, Rockville, Md.); Servier (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France); Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp. (Tokyo:4508; Osaka:4508, Osaka, Japan); and Bayer AG (Xetra:BAYN, Leverkusen, Germany). At June 30, had in SEK186 million ($26.7 million) in cash, SEK162.8 ($23.4 million) in investments and a six-month operating loss of SEK130.8 million ($18.8 million). BioInvent could not be reached for comment.

In June, BioInvent reduced headcount by 21 (24%) to 68 following its June decision to discontinue development of TB-204. BioInvent said it planned to focus on development of BI-402 for acute coronary artery disease and other projects, including BI-505. In July, BioInvent and partner Genentech Inc. reported that BI-204 missed the primary endpoint in the Phase IIa GLACIER trial to treat atherosclerosis. At the time, BioInvent said the partners would finalize the full data analysis before deciding next steps. BioInvent and Genentech partnered in 2007 to co-develop BI-204, a human mAb that binds to oxidized LDL. Genentech is a unit of Roche (SIX:ROG; OTCQX:RHHBY, Basel, Switzerland) (see BioCentury, July 2 & July 16). ...