Unum Therapeutics announced on Monday that it has successfully completed its acquisition of Kiq LLC, a privately held biotechnology company with a focus on the discovery and development of precision kinase inhibitors.
Unum Therapeutics announced on Monday that it has successfully completed its acquisition of Kiq LLC, a privately held biotechnology company with a focus on the discovery and development of precision kinase inhibitors.
The transaction is expected to result in gross proceeds worth $104.4 million. With this funding, Unum intends to further its clinical testing of PLX9486, a potent and selective KIT D816V inhibitor.
Specifically, PLX9486 will be studied as a monotherapy in patients with Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis and Indolent Systemic Mastocytosis. In a Phase I/II trial, the therapy has already shown promising clinical activity in patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GIST). The global rights to develop and commercialize PLX9486 were exclusively licensed by Kiq from Plexxikon Inc.
“Unum has explored a range of strategic alternatives through an orderly process to maximize shareholder value, and we believe this acquisition represents the highest-potential value creation opportunity for Unum stockholders,” said Chuck Wilson, Ph.D., President and CEO of Unum. “We are excited by Kiq’s lead clinical program and the potential to build a pipeline of novel kinase inhibitors while continuing to explore strategic opportunities for our cell-based therapy programs. As the science develops, we will continue to drive forward our mission of developing novel, best-in-class therapeutics for patients with the greatest need, and we thank our Board members, past and present, along with our investors for their support and commitment.”
PLX9486 is not the only area of focus for Unum. The company announced back in March that it would be prioritizing resources toward advancing its preclinical program for BOXR1030, its product dedicated to the treatment of solid tumor cancers.
BOXR1030 expresses a glypican-3 (GPC3) targeted CAR and utilizes the novel transgene glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase 2 (GOT2) to improve T cell function in the solid tumor microenvironment by enhancing T cell metabolism. It was discovered from Unum’s Bolt-on Chimeric platform, which is designed to discover novel “bolt on” transgenes that can be co-expressed with CARs, a T-cell receptor, or ACTR, to help T cells survive longer in a solid tumor environment.
Unum has already initiated formal preclinical development activities for BOXR1030, including preclinical safety testing. To conserve resources for the product, the company is also conducting its ACTR707 clinical trials, and it has reduced its workforce by 43 employees to focus efforts on the BOXR1030 program.
“Following a detailed review of our operations, opportunities, and cash reserves, we believe the decisions announced today are in the best interests of all Unum stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, employees and shareholders,” Wilson said at the time of the announcement.
Unum also confirmed in March that it had entered a common stock purchase agreement for up to $25 million with Lincoln Park Capital Fund, LLC. At the time, Unum specified that it intended to use the net proceeds from the sale of its common stock under the purchase agreement for working capital and general corporate purposes. The company maintained the right to terminate the common stock purchase agreement at any time, at its discretion, without any additional cost or penalty.
Unum remains focused on developing curative cell therapies to address solid tumor cancers in patients. Its collaboration revenues were $15.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2019, and $22.5 million for the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2019. This is compared to collaboration revenues of $3.8 million and $9.7 million, respectively, for the same periods of 2018.
