Another inflammation and immunology startup has attracted big bucks.
On Thursday, Evommune announced a $115 million raise to back a pipeline anticipated to have multiple Phase 2 readouts in the next 18 months.
The Series C gives fresh momentum to the Palo Alto startup’s pipeline after it
stopped development
of its Phase 2a drug, an IRAK4 inhibitor, in atopic dermatitis last September. The biotech quickly rebounded and has a mid-stage test ongoing — with more planned soon — for its MRGPRX2 inhibitor codenamed EVO756.
The once-daily oral drug is being explored for chronic inducible urticaria, chronic spontaneous urticaria, atopic dermatitis and other indications. Evommune has a
partnership
with Maruho for development and commercialization of the asset in certain Asian regions. (Septerna, which
went public last week
, is also working on MRGPRX2.)
The startup also has an IL-18-targeted fusion protein dubbed EVO301 for atopic dermatitis. It will enter Phase 2 in the first three months of next year, CEO Luis Peña told
Endpoints News
.
The California startup licensed the asset from South Korean company AprilBio this summer for $15 million upfront and about $475 million in potential payments, an Evommune spokesperson confirmed to Endpoints at the time of the June
announcement
.
Meanwhile, Evommune could still return to the shelved IRAK4 inhibitor, known as EVO101. An investigator-initiated trial is now testing the drug for hidradenitis suppurativa, a chronic skin condition that has attracted interest in recent years. If those data look good, Evommune might restart development.
RA Capital and Sectoral Asset Management co-led the Series C, which comes 18 months after a
$50 million Series B
.
While the new raise gives Evommune multiple years of runway, it could entertain the idea of going public, and its investor syndicate “could easily support an IPO,” Peña said. Around the middle of next year — after releasing its first batch of
Phase 2
data for EVO756 in chronic inducible urticaria — could be a good time to explore the public market, Peña said.
The biotech might also attract the interest of pharma acquirers, Peña said. Evommune is led by former Dermira executives, who helped take the autoimmune drug developer to a
$1.1 billion sale to Eli Lilly
in early 2020.
“We’re more amenable to that kind of partnership as opposed to actually doing a co-development deal with a company,” Peña said. “We have such deep development expertise that we don’t really need help on that front, but if someone wants to come and bid on our programs or our company at some point, they can.”
He declined to comment on whether Evommune has already received takeover proposals. He added that “you should never set up your company that way.”
Peña, who was chief development officer of Dermira when Lilly bought it, formed his new startup a week after he left the Indianapolis drugmaker in 2020. The main drug from that buyout,
lebrikizumab
, was approved by the FDA for eczema last month.
Evommune licensed
the IRAK4 inhibitor and EVO756, among other programs, from Lilly.
Evommune, Inc.初创企业
