Back-to-back failures have spurred AnaptysBio to take stock. CEO Hamza Suria has left, bringing an end to his 11-year reign, and the board of directors is carrying out a strategic portfolio review of AnaptysBio’s three wholly owned clinical-phase programs.
AnaptysBio went into 2021 looking forward to a series of readouts on anti-IL-36R antibody imsidolimab. After failing a palmoplantar pustulosis trial in 2021, AnaptysBio flunked a midphase acne study earlier this month, leaving it 0 for 2 as it heads into its next readouts. Data from a trial in a chronic inflammatory skin condition are due this year, with phase 3 results in generalized pustular psoriasis following later.
After the acne setback, AnaptysBio held its course in the other two indications, but the failures have had consequences. Suria, who took over as CEO in 2011, handed in his notice Sunday, leaving AnaptysBio board member Daniel Faga in charge on an interim basis. Faga previously held C-suite roles at Mirati and Spark Therapeutics.
Under Faga, AnaptysBio will continue to advance imsidolimab toward its two readouts while testing its PD-1 agonist rosnilimab and the BTLA modulator ANB032 in, respectively, alopecia patients and healthy volunteers in phase 2 and 1 clinical trials. At the same time, the board of directors will carry out a review of the strategy for the candidates.
“This will include defining the clinical path forward across a breadth of potential inflammation-focused indications that could be pursued for each of our clinical and preclinical therapeutic antibody programs as well as the optimal deployment of our approximately $615 million in cash as of the end 2021,” Faga said in a statement.
The cash pile means AnaptysBio is better equipped than many biotechs would be after suffering a pair of failures in the clinic. AnaptysBio ended 2021 with more money than it started out with as a result of its royalty monetization transaction with Sagard Healthcare Royalty Partners.