Brickell Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: BBI) and Carna Biosciences Inc. have announced the signing of a licensing agreement pursuant to which Brickell will receive exclusive rights for the development and commercialization of Carna’s portfolio of novel oral Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING) antagonists. Carna is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical commercial enterprise focused on discovering and developing novel treatments to tackle major unmet medical needs.
Excess signaling associated with autoimmune diseases
STING is a popular innate immune system response mediator. Unfortunately, excess STING signaling has been associated with several diseases with high unmet needs, including autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus and interferonopathies, a group of rare hereditary abnormalities defined as well by excess production of interferon.
Brickell Chief Medical Officer Dr. Monca Luchi said, “Inhibiting the STING pathway is a compelling and differentiated approach. In many chronic inflammatory conditions, persistent inflammation results in substantial tissue damage and the release of DNA fragments into the extracellular space. The cGAS-STING pathway is the crucial sensor for these extracellular DNA fragments, which triggers the release of interferons and other pro-inflammatory cytokines that further exacerbates the inflammation.”
Due to their ability to target a wide range of inflammatory conditions, STING antagonists, particularly such as the flagship candidate, BBI-10, which block the palmitoylation location and inactivate downstream kinase signaling, have piqued the attention of many researchers and drugmakers. In addition, because the cGAS-STING pathway has been demonstrated to be hyperactive in specific clinical subsets of autoinflammatory and autoimmune illnesses and also in severe genetic abnormalities, the company is particularly enthused about the potential future usefulness of STING inhibitors in personalized medicine.
Acquisition massive opportunity to expand
The purchase of Carna’s next-gen STING antagonists represents a significant opportunity for the company to grow its foothold in immunology and inflammation and deliver new therapy alternatives to patients who need them.
Brickell CEO commented, “We believe that this portfolio of preclinical STING inhibitors is complementary to our current development-stage pipeline of NCEs, which includes BBI-02, a potential first-in-class DYRK1A inhibitor program that is expected to enter a Phase 1 clinical study in the coming months.”
