Kura Oncology spins out Caspian Therapeutics with $50M to develop menin inhibitors for diabetes
核心洞察
Kura Oncology launched Caspian Therapeutics (搜索) with $50 million in financing to develop small-molecule menin (搜索) inhibitors for diabetes (搜索) and other cardiometabolic diseases.
The lead candidate KO-7246 (搜索) is expected to enter a Phase 1 clinical trial in diabetes (搜索) by the end of next year, with data anticipated in 2028.
Menin (搜索) inhibition may selectively expand pancreatic β islet cell mass and increase insulin production, an approach Kura CEO Troy Wilson calls a "unicorn" target.
Kura Oncology is turning an unexpected finding from its cancer drug discovery work into a new company. On Wednesday, the San Diego-based biotech announced the launch of Caspian Therapeutics (搜索), a startup with $50 million in financing to develop menin (搜索) inhibitors for diabetes (搜索) and other cardiometabolic diseases.
The insight behind Caspian emerged when Kura researchers targeted menin (搜索), a protein involved in cell division and signaling. While studying the protein's role in leukemia, they reported a bonus finding: targeting menin not only controlled the growth of leukemia cells, but also helped control blood sugar levels in animal studies.
The initial funding, led by BVF Partners (搜索) and joined by Eli Lilly and members of Kura's leadership team, among others, is meant to advance Caspian's lead small molecule drug through an early-phase clinical trial in diabetes (搜索) and support the development of a second candidate. Kura will retain around 50% ownership of Caspian, and Kura CEO Troy Wilson will serve as executive chair of the new biotech's board. Robert Spencer, most recently CEO of Neurommune Therapeutics and a former leader of drug discovery programs at Merck, was named Caspian's head.
A "Swiss army knife" target
Wilson describes menin (搜索) as the "Swiss army knife of targets." It is an epigenetic modifier that controls gene expression by modulating the methylation patterns on DNA. In certain forms of acute myeloid leukemia (搜索) — the disease that Kura's menin inhibitor Komzifti (搜索), or ziftomenib, was approved to treat last year — menin interacts inappropriately with KMT2A fusion proteins, driving the cancer. Komzifti stops menin and the fusion proteins from interacting.
In diabetes (搜索), Wilson explains, menin (搜索) represses proteins involved in controlling the cycle of β cells within the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. A menin inhibitor could therefore selectively expand the mass of β cells in people with diabetes, increasing insulin production.
"People are trying to chisel away at diabetes (搜索), both type 1 and type 2, in lots of different ways," Wilson said. "They're doing cell therapy. They're doing implants. They're doing a whole bunch of approaches of autoimmunity, GLP-1s. There is no other therapeutic target that selectively regrows the pancreatic β islet cells. It just doesn't exist. So this thing is kind of a unicorn."
Development plans for KO-7246
The teams at Kura and Caspian expect to begin a Phase 1 clinical trial of Caspian's lead compound, the small-molecule menin (搜索) inhibitor KO-7246 (搜索), by the end of next year and have data from that study in 2028. Caspian will present more information about KO-7246's chemical properties at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (搜索), which begins in Milan later this month.
Caspian itself has only one full-time employee: Rob Spencer, who is acting as president and chief operating officer. Caspian and Kura will functionally partner on much of the drug-development process, and the startup will also work with Lilly's contract research organization Lilly ExploR&D. "There's no point, right now, in building a lot of redundant capability," Wilson said.
For Wilson, Caspian is the ninth company he has started. Its name refers to the Caspian Sea, into which the Kura River drains.