With a fresh leadership team settling in, CNS Pharmaceuticals is wiping its pipeline clean as it hunts for a new lead asset.
After tapping a consulting firm for advice, the Houston-based biotech has elected to offload its glioblastoma candidates berubicin and TPI 287, the company announced in a March 11 release. CNS is now looking for partners that can take these assets off its hands while the company shops for promising new prospects in neurology and oncology.
A phase 2 trial of berubicin in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme will continue through its expected completion in July, a spokesperson for CNS told Fierce Biotech this morning. The company had previously reported that berubicin failed to top fellow chemotherapy lomustine in this trial, though the study wasn’t powered to test for noninferiority.
TPI 287, meanwhile, has not yet commenced its next phase of clinical development, according to the spokesperson, who explained that CNS won’t advance the asset any further. The biotech had previously said it planned to launch a phase 2 trial for the molecule, a derivative of the chemotherapy taxane.
TPI 287 and berubicin are CNS' only two assets, the spokesperson confirmed.
The strategic pivot doesn’t come with any layoffs, the spokesperson added, and, instead, the new leadership team has “the intent to build and grow the company.”
The Texas outfit’s new approach will be to bring in preclinical or clinical candidates with “defined value inflection points” that meet significant unmet medical needs in neurology or oncology, according to the release.
“Strategic transformations are a common and often successful approach in biotechnology,” Rami Levin, who took over as CEO of CNS in January, said in the release. “With the right leadership experience and a disciplined, data-driven strategy, companies can transform their pipelines and create substantial value.”
Not long after taking the helm, Levin brought on board a new chief financial officer, a chief technology officer, a chief business officer and a chief medical officer. He also wrote a letter to shareholders announcing that he was thoroughly evaluating the company’s pipeline and operations.
In its most recent financial disclosure last November, CNS revealed cash reserves of about $9.9 million, which the biotech envisioned funding operations into the second half of this year.