Enzyvant Therapeutics (Enzyvant) and Altavant Sciences (Altavant) have announced a merger to form a biopharmaceutical company focused on accelerating the development of therapies for patients with rare diseases.
The combined company, which retains the name Enzyvant, will have a full range of capabilities required to advance ‘bold science’ for rare diseases in immunology and cardiopulmonology.
This includes the development of an in-house regenerative medicine manufacturing facility to serve the company’s commercial and clinical research needs for regenerative medicines. Financial terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.
Myrtle Potter, chief executive officer of Sumitovant Biopharma, of which both individual companies are wholly owned subsidiaries of, said: “There is an immense human need for rare disease therapies, but innovation in this field is complex. Enzyvant has a proven track record of bringing unique expertise to tackle some of the greatest unmet needs in the space.
“We believe the combined company will be better positioned to deliver breakthroughs in a way that wouldn’t have been possible separately.”
Enzyvant received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in October 2021 for its first commercial product, Rethymic (allogeneic processed thymus tissue-agdc), a one-time regenerative tissue-based therapy for immune reconstitution in paediatric patients with congenital athymia, a disease characterised by the absence of a functioning thymus.
The thymus is an organ that sits on top of the heart and helps the body produce T-cells. Children with congenital athymia can face repeated infections and may also be affected by autoimmune conditions, both of which can be fatal.
Rethymic, which has been studied across ten clinical trials for over 25 years, is engineered human thymus tissue designed to regenerate the thymic function children with congenital athymia are missing and does not require donor-recipient matching.
The company is also currently evaluating an investigational product, rodatristat ethyl, which is designed to address a root cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Also commenting on the merger, Dr Bill Symonds, current chief executive officer of both Enzyvant and Altavant, who will also lead the merged company, said: “Together, our combined team has the proven expertise to take a product from early clinical development through commercialisation, and the passion and focus to drive accelerated development of urgently needed rare disease medicines in immunology and cardiopulmonology.
“Patients and families facing very serious and difficult-to-treat rare conditions are the inspiration for our work and vital partners in moving our programs forward.”