Sorrento Therapeutics Licenses DB102 (Enzastaurin) to Rumpus Therapeutics for Novel Genetic Indications

On December 26, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that Suoyuan Biomedicine announced it had entered into a licensing agreement with Rumpus Therapeutics for the development of DB102 to treat specific indications. Rumpus Therapeutics has obtained the license to develop and commercialize DB102 for certain genetic disorders outside of Suoyuan Biomedicine’s core therapeutic areas, such as oncology and pulmonary arterial hypertension.Under the agreement, Rumpus Therapeutics will pay Suoyuan Biomedicine fees including an upfront payment and option exercise fees, and is expected to generate nearly $100 million in milestone payments and sales royalties for Suoyuan Biomedicine in the future.

Prior to this, on December 9, 2019, Suoyuan Biomedicine had just obtained the license for vosaroxin from Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, securing global rights for the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of vosaroxin. This drug also became the fifth product in Suoyuan Biomedicine’s pipeline to reach the late stages of clinical development.

Dr. Michael F. Haller, Chief Business Officer of Suoyuan Biomedicine, stated, “Suoyuan Biomedicine’s model of acquiring late-stage clinical first-in-class global novel drugs, leveraging its unique precision medicine platform, not only enables breakthroughs in original indications but also holds potential applications and significant value in other indications. By executing this agreement, in addition to concentrating resources on advancing DB102 through international clinical trials for the treatment of previously untreated high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and glioma, Suoyuan Biomedicine can more timely and comprehensively explore and expand the potential of DB102 in other disease areas through collaboration. This partnership not only extends Suoyuan Biomedicine’s existing product pipeline into new indication areas but also enables the company to generate revenue before the release of data from the ENGINE study, the first clinical trial of DB102, highlighting the diverse advantages of Suoyuan Biomedicine’s business model.”

In our conversation, Dr. Luo Wen, founder of Suoyuan Biomedicine, noted that while there are many cases of Chinese innovative drug R&D companies acquiring China-region rights from overseas, relatively few license-out deals have been concluded to date.

Rumpus Therapeutics, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, discovered that PKC inhibitors demonstrate certain therapeutic efficacy in a specific genetic disorder. DB102 (enzastaurin), a late-stage clinical PKCβ inhibitor, naturally became Rumpus’s first choice.

“Developing biomarkers based on the product’s original indications to precisely target patient populations, thereby achieving better efficacy in subsequent clinical studies and ultimately facilitating market launch, remains our core business model. The out-licensing of certain indications for DB102 represents additional revenue beyond our original R&D strategy. We are also pleased that DB102 can be applied to a broader range of disease areas, contributing to the advancement of the healthcare industry,” said Luo Wen.

Suoyuan Biomedicine is a leading precision medicine company that employs a novel, rapid, and efficient model to develop first-in-class drugs. The company licenses new drug candidates from major international pharmaceutical companies—agents that have demonstrated safety in late-stage clinical trials and shown efficacy in subsets of patients. Leveraging its proprietary biomarker platform technology, Suoyuan Biomedicine identifies predictive biomarkers from residual clinical samples. By using these newly discovered biomarkers as companion diagnostics to screen patients, the company can re-initiate clinical trials in sensitive patient populations, thereby optimizing efficacy, safety, and tolerability. This approach enhances the success rate of new drug development, achieving the goal of developing innovative therapies at lower costs and in shorter timeframes.

Suoyuan Biomedicine currently holds global rights to five product candidates—DB102, DB103, DB104, DB105, and DB106—that have been developed to late-stage clinical trials. All are first-in-class innovative drugs. Among them, DB102 (enzastaurin), originally developed by Eli Lilly and Company, is indicated for the treatment of previously untreated high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). DB103 (pomaglumetad), also originally developed by Eli Lilly and Company, is indicated for the treatment of schizophrenia. DB104 (liafensine), originally co-developed by ARMI and Bristol-Myers Squibb, is indicated for the treatment of depression. DB105 (ORM-12741), originally co-developed by Orion Corporation and Johnson & Johnson, is indicated for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). DB106 (vosaroxin), originally developed by Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is indicated for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Vosaroxin is a first-in-class, potent, non-anthracycline topoisomerase II inhibitor indicated for the treatment of cancers such as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and solid tumors. To date, more than 1,200 patients have received vosaroxin across 16 clinical studies, demonstrating its manageable safety profile and potential efficacy. In the Phase III VALOR trial involving 711 randomized patients, although the primary efficacy endpoint was not met (p=0.06), the study revealed significant improvements in overall survival (OS) and complete remission (CR) rates in certain specific subgroups, particularly among patients with the poorest prognosis, such as those aged over 60 years with relapsed or refractory AML.