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Monday, February 13, 2023
Sorrento files for Chapter 11 after losing arbitration to Patrick Soon-Shiong biotech
Sorrento Therapeutics is filing for bankruptcy following a yearslong legal dispute.
The biotech submitted its Chapter 11 paperwork Monday, per an SEC filing, after losing an arbitration battle to billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong’s NantCell in December. The pair battled over a joint venture called NANTibody in 2015, where Sorrento signed an exclusive licensing deal and accused Soon-Shiong of a “catch-and-kill” scheme in 2019.
The penny stock $SRNE lost nearly 33% of its value following the opening bell.
The arbitrator awarded NantCell, part of Soon-Shiong’s ImmunityBio, nearly $157 million and NANTibody close to $17 million. At the time, Sorrento CEO and chairman Henry Ji disagreed with the award, calling it “wrongly decided” in an SEC filing. For its part, ImmunityBio said it would “pursue vigorously the collection of the award.”
In conjunction with the bankruptcy disclosure on Monday, Sorrento said a court ordered the company to pay the Nant entities, with interest accruing at 10% per year.
While Sorrento was ordered to pay up to ImmunityBio, the biotech also seeks money from Soon-Shiong’s network of biopharma entities. The arbitration centers around “alleged breaches” of a stock sale and purchase agreement between Sorrento and NantPharma in 2015, concerning the cancer drug Cynviloq.
In December, the arbitrator issued an award “granting contractual damages of $125 million to Sorrento, reflecting the value of lost milestone payments for the approval of Cynviloq for the treatment of breast and lung cancers.” Earlier this month, Sorrento petitioned the court to confirm the award.
Both Nant and Sorrento’s leaders have touted a big game during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sorrento’s Ji spoke of an “exceptionally potent antibody” on Fox News and said the crisis would end with the “cure,” even though the antibody had not even been tested in patients or mice at the time. Sorrento’s stock value skyrocketed on the claim.
Meanwhile, Soon-Shiong attempted to talk with White House leaders in the early days of the pandemic to get his company’s vaccine into clinical trials.
Sorrento has multiple programs across Covid-19, immunotherapy and pain. It operates an apparatus of subsidiaries, including Acea Therapeutics, SmartPharm Therapeutics, Ark Animal Health and others. One of them, Scilex Pharmaceuticals, said on Sunday it had acquired the US and Canadian rights to Elyxyb, an oral migraine drug originally developed by Dr. Reddy’s and approved in 2020. The sum of the transaction was not disclosed.
Anika: 1st Surgeries Performed Using New Reverse Shoulder Arthroplasty System
RevoMotion significantly expands Anika’s shoulder arthroplasty portfolio and provides a new solution in the over $800 million U.S. reverse shoulder market
RevoMotion offers the industry’s smallest diameter threaded glenoid baseplate which preserves bone and enhances intraoperative flexibility
The system’s two streamlined instrument trays are designed to drive efficiencies, reduce OR complexity, and simplify the procedure in both the hospital and ASC
Acer: Full Enrollment of Phase 2a Trial for Treatment of Vasomotor Symptoms of Menopause
Acer Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ACER), a pharmaceutical company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of therapies for serious, rare and life-threatening diseases with significant unmet medical needs, today announced full enrollment of its Phase 2a proof of concept trial of ACER-801 (osanetant), a novel, non-hormonal, neurokinin 3 receptor (NK3R) antagonist, being investigated as a potential treatment option for moderate to severe Vasomotor Symptoms (VMS) associated with menopause. Topline results from this trial are expected in mid-March 2023.
The Phase 2a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging trial of ACER-801 is designed to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK) and efficacy of ACER-801 in 48 postmenopausal women aged 40-65 who experience moderate to severe hot flashes. Subjects were randomized 1:1:1:1 and receive twice daily doses of either 50mg, 100mg, 200mg of ACER-801 or placebo over a 14-day treatment period, followed by a 14-day safety follow-up assessment. Results from this trial could provide proof of concept data in postmenopausal women and could inform ACER-801 dosing and a development path forward in patients with induced Vasomotor Symptoms (iVMS).
Acumen starts Phase 1 for monoclonal antibody for Alzheimer's
Acumen Pharmaceuticals Inc., (NASDAQ: ABOS) (“Acumen” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel therapeutic that targets toxic soluble amyloid beta oligomers (AβOs) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), today announced the completion of enrollment in its Phase 1 INTERCEPT-AD trial of ACU193 in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. Acumen is on track to report topline results, including safety and proof-of-mechanism data, in the third quarter of 2023, which is earlier than previously expected.
SOPHiA GENETICS Expands Partnership With AstraZeneca
The expanded partnership aims to leverage the global SOPHiA DDM™ platform and multimodal algorithmic capabilities to lead a new era of precision oncology by improving early patient identification and diagnosis, optimizing clinical development, and accelerating adoption of innovative medications along the care pathway
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