UNITY Biotechnology Inc. (NASDAQ:UBX) has announced its Q3 2020 financial results and corporate updates. The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $132.2 million at the end of the quarter, which is adequate to finance operations through mid-2022.
UNITY completes UBX1325 IND enabling studies
Anirvan Ghosh, the company’s CEO, said that over the past quarter, the company focused its resources on cellular senescence programs in neurology and ophthalmology. Ghosh said that they built on the robust foundation of the senolytics platform and the company made considerable progress in advancing critical programs in its pipeline. The CEO said that they have deep conviction around the role of senescent cells in aging diseases, especially in the brain and eye. Recently the company commenced a phase 1 trial of UBX1325 in diabetic macular edema (DME).
The company completed Investigational New Drug (IND) application-enabling studies with UBX1325 in July 2020. UBX1325 is an experimental senolytic, small Molecule inhibitor of anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family member, BCL-xL. Already UNITY Biotechnology has commenced a Phase 1 UBX1325 safety study and dosing of the first patient occurred in October. If the clinical sites manage to recruit and retain investigators and study staff, they will be in a position to screen and enrol patients during the pandemic. The company expects preliminary study results in 1H 2021 after which it will initiate a proof of concept DME study. UNITY’s overall clinical program will focus on the age-related disease of the eye like diabetic retinopathy and AMD.
UNITY advancing osteoarthritis knee treatment
The company announced the 12-week phase 2 UBX0101 study results in August 2020. UBx0101 is a p53/MDM2 interaction inhibitor the company is developing for the treatment of moderate-to-severe painful osteoarthritis of the knee. Results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the UBX0101 arm and the placebo group at the 12-week endpoint for baseline change in WOMAC-A. WOMAC-A is the established pain measurement in osteoarthritis. Considering these results, the company doesn’t expect to progress UBX0101 into vital studies and will report results in a future scientific meeting.
