Akinion (Sweden) will certainly prevent the improvement of its candidate for leukemia, after patients in phase I/II have actually suffered liver toxicity. As a result, main investor Karolinska Development takes an €8M strike in its portfolio valuation.
APN-028 is a FMS-enjoy tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) inhibitor. FLT3 is abnormaly expressed in a lot of sorts of AML, and has actually an essential role in the improvement of blood cells and the immune system.
Fig 1: The chemical substance structure of AKN-028 (left) and the generic mechanism of action of kinase inhibitors in cancer.
Targeting protein kinases is an set method for several cancer therapies, and over 10 kinase inhibitors have actually been approved by the FDA in the last decade. Being a targeted therapy, it was additionally expected to have actually much less generic cell toxicity.
So this candidate looked enjoy a fairly secure bet. However as Jim Van heusden, the CEO of Karolinska Development, puts it:
It’s unfortunate, However additionally illustrates the mistakes inherent in investing in the improvement of novel drug candidates.”
Karolinska Development is a Swedish investment company. It invests in medical innovation, typically decided on from study conducted at Karolinska Institutet. Counting along with Karolinska’s resources, these innovations are produced in-house. The end target is to license the resulting treatments to Sizable Pharma after successful phase II trials.
The model of interactions in between study at Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska Innovation (KIAB) and Karolisnka improvement (Source: Karolinska Development)
Karolinska improvement owns much more compared to 90% of Akinion, which is among the 12 little companies in its portfolio. Now, this trial failure devaluated the portfolio in around €8.36M (SEK 78M).
Despite triumph in securing partners enjoy Forendo Pharma, the finances of Karolinska improvement appear to have seen much better days.
Feature image credit: Stockholm Panorama (CC 2.0 Román Emin)
Figure 1 (left) credit: Eriksson et. al (2012) The novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor AKN-028 has actually substantial antileukemic task in cell lines and primary cultures of acute myeloid leukemia. Blood Cancer Journal (doi: 10.1038/bcj.2012.28)
Figure 1 (right) credit: Cancer study UK (Cancer growth blockers)
