Pyxis Oncology is slimming down after a tough start to life on public markets, pausing work on two assets and stopping development of a third altogether to focus its cash on getting its lead programs to clinical data drops.
When Pyxis went public last year, it set out plans to file requests to enter clinical trials for three candidates in 2022 and 2023. The subsequent addition of two other programs, the in-licensed PYX-106 and internally discovered PYX-102, gave Pyxis a roster of five assets earmarked for trial requests by the end of next year. However, with an eye on its cash reserves, the biotech will now only push ahead with two of the programs.
Pyxis is pausing development of two candidates, PYX-203 and PYX-102, to preserve its money. PYX-203, which the biotech in-licensed from Pfizer, is a CD123-directed antibody-drug conjugate that was scheduled to be submitted for trials in the second half of 2023 as a treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. PYX-102 is an anti-KLRG1 antibody designed to promote the full anti-tumor activity of cytotoxic T cells and NK cells. Pyxis had previously penciled in a PYX-102 trial filing for the second half of next year.
Pyxis has decided its $207 million cash pile is better spent on anti-fibronectin extradomain-B antibody PYX-201 and anti-Siglec-15 antibody PYX-106, both of which are scheduled to be submitted this year for approval to enter human trials. But the biotech “remains optimistic about the long-term clinical promise of both assets and will consider both strategic collaboration and licensing opportunities” and potential future in-house work.
While PYX-203 and PYX-102 are just on the backburner, work on PYX-202 has come to a permanent stop. Pyxis disclosed the initiation of additional toxicology studies of the candidate, a DLK1-directed ADC that it in-licensed from LegoChem Biosciences, in March in response to an observation from other tests. The studies led Pyxis to stop work on PYX-202, although it continues to see promise in targeting DLK1 and will evaluate candidates in development at LegoChem that feature next-generation payloads.
The narrowing of the biotech’s focus has done little to extend its cash runway. Pyxis is now guiding that its cash will last into the second half of 2024, compared to the third quarter of 2024 projection it made in May. More importantly, the cash runway extends beyond readouts on PYX-201 and PYX-106 that could revitalize investor enthusiasm in the biotech. Pyxis’ share price has fallen 78% to below $3 since it went public last year.