BioCentury
ARTICLE | Finance

May 24 Quick Takes: Duke Street Bio debuts to develop PARP inhibitors

Plus Alvotech’s Stelara biosimilar demonstrates bioequivalence and updates from uniQure, CSL, Alpine and more

May 25, 2022 1:22 AM UTC

London-based oncology company Duke Street Bio Ltd. emerged from stealth with a PARP1-selective inhibitor — a compound class whose lower toxicity relative to first-generation PARP inhibitors could unlock combination therapies in the DNA damage repair (DDR) space — as well as an inhibitor of PARP7, a stress response gene upregulated in multiple cancers that acts as a checkpoint for innate immunity by blocking type I interferon production. The company, which reunites the management team behind IOmet Pharma Ltd., acquired by Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK) in 2016, said it “has a multiyear cash runway to fund its pipeline into clinical studies” from undisclosed investors. Duke Street’s advisers include NEA's Elliott Sigal, former CSO and President R&D at Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE:BMY), and DDR pioneer Timothy Yap from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

With patent exclusivity for Stelara ustekinumab set to expire next year, Alvotech Holdings S.A. said ATV04 became the second biosimilar to show equivalence to the reference product in a clinical study. ATV04 met the primary endpoint in a Phase III trial among patients with psoriasis. The biotech is in the process of merging with special-purpose acquisition company Oaktree Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE:OACB). Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE:TEVA; Tel Aviv:TEVA) is its U.S. partner. ...