April 30 Quick Takes: Bilenker has $212M to build newco Treeline’s toolbox; plus Farxiga, Opdivo, BioCryst, Leo, Hikma and more
An SEC filing released Friday revealed that Josh Bilenker and Jeffrey Engelman have $212 million to begin building newly launched Treeline Biosciences Inc.’s toolbox for chasing validated but difficult-to-drug cancer targets. The company quietly launched this week via a LinkedIn post by the Loxo Oncology Inc. co-founder and CEO that listed Engelman, the former Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research global head oncology, as CSO and Arch Venture Partners, GV and OrbiMed as the leads on the newco’s series A round. According to the Form D filing, the company is seeking up to $220 million in the round.
An expanded label for Farxiga dapagliflozin that includes chronic kidney disease adds firepower to a diabetes drug whose revenues rose 54% quarter-over-quarter to $625 million. The new indication — to reduce the risk of kidney function decline, kidney failure, cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure in adults with CKD at risk of disease progression — makes the drug the first SGLT2 inhibitor approved by FDA to treat CKD regardless of diabetes status, according to AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NASDAQ:AZN). The company confirmed that it does not plan to raise the list price of the drug, which is $507.18 for a 30-day supply...