Plexium has raised $60.1 million, providing an infusion of cash for the recently slimmed-down protein degrader specialist three years on from its breakout year.
The biotech put itself on the map in 2022 by securing a deal with Amgen worth up to $500 million, raising a $102 million round and entering into a pact with AbbVie in a three-month hot streak.
Plexium used the cash to start a phase 1 study of PLX-4545, an oral CRBN molecular glue degrader of IKZF2, in healthy volunteers late in 2023.
The trial found PLX-4545 has an acceptable safety profile across a range of doses and can reprogram regulatory T cells, warranting further investigation in cancer patients, the company reported (PDF) in April.
No other studies for PLX-4545 or Plexium are listed on the U.S. or World Health Organization clinical trial registries.
Having completed the study one year ago, Plexium has raised $60.1 million to fund its next chapter, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing dated Aug. 25.
Plexium’s pipeline also includes PLX-61639, a degrader designed to treat cancer by exploiting a synthetic lethal relationship. The SMARCA4 gene is frequently mutated in cancer, forcing tumor cells to rely on SMARCA2 for certain essential processes. The reliance has led multiple companies to identify opportunities to target SMARCA2 to treat patients with SMARCA4 alterations, and PLX-61639 represents one such attempt.
Prelude Therapeutics has two SMARCA2 degraders, PRT3789 and PRT7732, in the clinic. Eli Lilly began a phase 1 trial of its Foghorn Therapeutics-partnered SMARCA2 inhibitor LY4050784 last year. Plexium is further back. The biotech shared (PDF) preclinical data on its SMARCA2 degrader in April, at which time the drug candidate was in IND-enabling studies.
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Like many early-stage biotechs, Plexium has hit turbulence since its annus mirabilis in 2022. The biotech recently laid off employees as part of a plan designed to “align internal resources to better support their advancing development stage pipeline while maintaining full drug discovery and platform technology capabilities,” a spokesperson explained in June.
Plexium also lost its alliance with Amgen, a spokesperson for the company told Endpoints News. Internet records indicate that the deal fell apart some time ago, as Plexium had removed Amgen from the “about” section of its press releases by December 2023.
Plexium still included the Amgen pact on its pipeline in November 2023, but the alliance later disappeared from the list of the company’s programs.
