David Epstein was ready to retire when an opportunity came along he couldn’t pass up.
Epstein had just sold Seagen, a large cancer drugmaker, to Pfizer for $43 billion and thought it a fitting capstone to a career that included stops at Novartis and Flagship Pioneering. Like others winding down work in the life sciences, Epstein intended to step back and advise up-and-coming drugmakers by joining their boards of directors.
But then Epstein got a call from Francesco de Rubertis, a partner at the venture capital firm Medicxi. De Rubertis was building a company around a medicine with the potential, he believed, to unseat immune-boosting drugs like Merck & Co.’s Keytruda that have revolutionized cancer care over the last decade. A similar medicine, from biotechs Summit Therapeutics and Akeso, beat Keytruda in a head-to-head Phase 3 trial earlier this year. De Rubertis convinced Epstein his startup had something even better.
“When you see a drug that has a possibility of transforming tens of thousands of lives, it’s a big deal,” Epstein said. “I said hey, I can do this. Let’s have some fun.”
Epstein pushed off retirement and took the job. In late October, he became chair and CEO of De Rubertis’ startup, a small drugmaker based in London and Boston, and called Ottimo Pharma. He assembled an executive team and a group of high-powered investors to fund the drug that had caught de Rubertis’ eye. Led by OrbiMed, Avoro Capital and Samsara BioCapital, those investors put $140 million into a Series A round the company announced Thursday.
Ottimo hopes to stand out in what’s become an ultra-competitive area of oncology research. The company is developing a cancer drug that blocks two cellular pathways — PD-1 and VEGF — that are linked to tumors’ ability to grow and evade the immune system. It trails Summit and Akeso, as well as a handful of other biotechs with drug programs in or nearing human testing. Ottimo intends to ask regulators late next year to start its first trial.
Summit and Akeso haven’t yet proven their medicine, ivonescimab, can help people live longer than Keytruda. The Phase 3 trial supporting its benefit also has important limitations. And it’s unclear whether PD-1 and VEGF-blocking medicines will clearly outperform drugs like Keytruda — which target PD-1 alone — against a similarly wide range of tumors. Several promising cancer immunotherapies have disappointed in advanced testing over the past decade.
Epstein is convinced, though. In his view, PD-1 and VEGF medicines will supplant PD-1-only therapies, unlocking a market currently worth tens of billions of dollars. The new drugs, he argues, could expand that market even more if they’re able to treat tumors that other immunotherapies can’t, or help people stay on therapy for longer.
“These drugs are going to work,” he said. “The question only is how big is the order of magnitude going to be, and across how many different tumor types?”
Epstein also claims Ottimo’s drug could stand out from its rivals. The company has designed a “bifunctional” antibody,” meaning both of the antibody’s “arms” are able to interact with both of its targets. Summit and Akeso’s antibody, by comparison, has separate arms aimed at each target.
One of Ottimo’s targets, VEGF receptor 2, is also found preferentially around tumors. The result could be a drug that targets tumors more precisely and be administered at higher doses, Epstein said.
Ottimo has a long ways to go to back up Epstein’s confidence. The company intends to start treating patients in a clinical trial in late 2025 or early 2026, by which time Summit and Akeso could have data that allow them to seek a U.S. approval.
Yet given the number of cancer types and potential drug combinations, Epstein argues there are many opportunities even for latecomers.
“This molecule is designed to be better,” he said. “It’s our job to prove that.”
Gwendolyn Wu contributed reporting.
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- Source: https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/ottimo-pharma-series-a-pd1-vegfr2-cancer-immunotherapy-summit/735601/