Roivant Sciences has spawned another Vant. The latest addition to the clan is Hemavant, a biotech that starts life with a former Eisai drug and plans to start a study in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) this year.
Hemavant is developing RVT-2001, the small-molecule modulator of splicing factor 3B subunit 1 that Roivant licensed from Eisai late last year. Eisai, working with its H3 Biomedicine subsidiary, took the oral candidate into a phase 1 clinical trial in 2016 but saw no complete or partial responses in the first 84 patients enrolled in the study of patients with MDS and other blood cancers.
Work stalled on the candidate after the 2019 data drop, with Roivant saying in January that the number of subjects treated with RVT-2001 still stands at “over 80.” Yet, Roivant sees promise in some of the data generated by Eisai, leading it to license the asset and narrow the focus of the program.
Eisai enrolled patients with acute myeloid leukemia, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia and lower- and higher-risk MDS in its phase 1 study. In that population, the lack of responses was a blow, but Roivant has zeroed in on another endpoint that suggests RVT-2001 may have a future in lower-risk, transfusion-dependent MDS patients.
Thirty percent of the 19 lower-risk MDS patients treated with RVT-2001, formerly known as H3B 8800, gained red blood cell transfusion independence. Most of the patients had previously received Bristol Myers Squibb’s Revlimid, hypomethylating agents or both therapies.
Based on the signal, Hemavant is developing RVT-2001 as an oral therapy for transfusion-dependent anemia in patients with lower-risk MDS. A phase 1/2 clinical trial is set to start in the first half of the year.
Roivant has paid Eisai $8 million in cash and $7 million in stock for the global rights to the candidate. As RVT-2001 advances, Roivant will pay up to $65 million in development and regulatory milestones in the first indication plus up to $18 million in additional indications. The deal also features up to $295 million in commercial milestones and a tiered high single-digit to sub-teens royalty.