John Houston, CEO of the growing New Haven biotech Arvinas, has been named 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year by state bioscience booster organization BioCT.
The award follows a year of significant achievements for the early-stage company, which went public in September and kicked off 2018 by sealing a licensing deal with pharma giant Pfizer potentially worth $830 million.
Meanwhile, an expansion completed this year in New Haven’s Science Park was expected to add 30 jobs.
“We are honored to recognize an outstanding leader who has so successfully combined business and scientific know-how,” said BioCT President and CEO Dawn Hocevar in announcing the award.
Arvinas is developing drugs focused on so-called protein degradation, using small molecules called PROTACS (short for proteolysis-targeting chimeras) to attack disease-causing cellular proteins.
The company believes the technology, based on Yale research, could be used to treat multiple medical conditions ranging from prostate cancer to Parkinson’s disease.
In addition to Pfizer, Arvinas also has deals with pharmaceutical leaders Genentech and Merck.
BioCT (formerly Connecticut United for Research Excellence, or CURE) established the award with law firm Shipman & Goodwin to showcase Connecticut entrepreneurs who are making an impact “beyond the borders of the state,” the organization said.
Before joining Arvinas, Houston spent 18 years as an executive at Bristol Myers-Squibb.
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has OK’d BioXcel Therapeutics Inc.’s investigational new drug application (IND) for its lead drug candidate to treat agitation in patients with dementia, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The New Haven-based company, which also has offices in India, is developing a proprietary, under-the-tongue thin film formulation of the older, FDA-approved drug dexmedetomidine, known as Dex.
The company said it will start a first-in-human bioavailability and safety study on the drug, called BXCL501, in healthy volunteers by the end of the year.
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Biohaven Pharmaceuticals Holding Co. Ltd. said it raised $143.7 million in a previously announced public offering of 3.9 million shares of stock which closed on Monday.
The New Haven-based drugmaker said it sold 3.9 million shares at $37.25 per share, which included the full exercise of the underwriters’ option to purchase an additional 450,000 shares within 30 days of the offering.
Biohaven expects to seek FDA approval for its late-stage migraine drug rimegepant during the first half of next year. It is also developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other neurological conditions.
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Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Monday reported positive interim results for Phase 2 clinical trials on its drug to treat a rare blood disease and kidney condition.
The New Haven biotech said its drug ACH-4471 had demonstrated preliminary proof-of-concept for the treatment of both the blood disease paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and rare kidney disease C3 glomerulopathy (C3G).
The drug seeks to treat the rare, immune-related diseases by inhibiting an immune system enzyme known as Factor D.
Achillion is targeting its Factor D inhibitor to PNH patients who are not responding to standard treatment with eculizumab — the generic name for fellow New Haven-born biotech Alexion’s blockbuster drug Soliris, which works by inhibiting another immune system component known as C5.
CEO Joe Pruitt said the early results reinforce Achillion’s belief that its drug can help PNH patients “in fundamentally different ways than has been seen with c5 inhibitors.”
For the C3G program, the company is currently enrolling patients in two six- and 12-month Phase 2 trials. Achillion plans to present the data to the FDA in late 2019.
Contact Natalie Missakian at news@newhavenbiz.com
