Apellis Acquires Potentia, APL-2 For Macular Degeneration
By Cyndi Root
Apellis Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement to acquire Potentia Pharmaceuticals, the company from which Apellis was spun out. The companies announced the deal in a press release, stating that the acquisition includes the Intellectual Property (IP) rights to APL-2, soon to be investigated in a dry age-related macular degeneration (dry AMD) Phase 2 trial. Cedric Francois, MD, PhD, and CEO of Apellis, said, "We are delighted to be back in retinal drug development. Ophthalmology is a unique therapeutic area that is very dear to us.”
Apellis and Potentia Agreement
Potentia was founded in 2003, and it spun out Apellis in 2010. Now, the child company is acquiring the parent company and its IP assets. Those rights include APL-2, a complement inhibitor drug for ophthalmology indications. The two companies did not release financial terms or transaction details.
APL-2
APL-2 is a compstatin derivatives inhibitor with improved physicochemical properties. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the agent Orphan Drug status for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Potentia is running preclinical studies and Phase 1 trials for APL-2 in several diseases and conditions. Apellis states that it will study the agent in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), ABO-incompatible transplantation, periodontitis, and ischemia reperfusion injury.
Phil Rosenfeld, MD, a retinal specialist at Bascom Palmer and advisor to Apellis, commented on the investigative compound, saying, "There's overwhelming scientific and clinical evidence to suggest that complement inhibition should slow the progression of dry AMD.” Apellis intends to move the agent into Phase 2 trials for AMD by the middle of 2015.
About Apellis
Located in Crestwood, KY, Apellis uses immunotherapy to treat auto-immune diseases, lung diseases like asthma and COPD, diseases of the retina, and rare hematological diseases. The company is focused on the complement system in the immune system, which the company calls Complement Immunotherapy.
Age-related Macular Degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) causes vision loss in people over the age of 65 and affects roughly two million people in the U.S. The condition is classified as either wet or dry AMD. Wet AMD can be treated with anti-VEGF therapies, such as ranibizumab (Lucentis) and aflibercept (Eylea), but there is no treatment for dry AMD. Genentech and Roche have also demonstrated the effectiveness of complement inhibition with lampalizumab.