Replies to post #204509 on Biotech Values

[mcbio]

Re: SRPT DMD deal(s?)

Its a one year old article and how close to an acquisitions are they?

They've been talking their own next generation PMO's from before I was a shareholder (am not now). I think that is really their priority after getting other Exon's that are in the pipeline out of course.

I think it sounds good and is LONG range plans. Perhaps they do a very early (cheap) deal but I wouldn't imagine anything over say $50m. They'll need a lot of that 500m in the next couple years (and I'd expect at least another raise before being profitable if I were a long trying to do a model too). Keep in mind they were running below 1 year cash which few Bio CEO's like to be at. The gamble paid off for them.

So, looks like given today's deal with CATB (#msg-125467312 ) that SRPT is indeed interested in getting involved with other DMD drugs. Look at this article from today, which gives even more detail on SRPT's interest in other DMD drugs (including those targeting atropin): http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bioflash/2016/09/sarepta-announces-duchenne-research-partnership.html.

Sarepta announces Duchenne research partnership with Cambridge's Catabasis
Sep 29, 2016, 8:00am EDT Updated Sep 29, 2016, 11:34am EDT

Don Seiffert
Life Sciences Editor
Boston Business Journal

Sarepta Therapeutics on Thursday morning announced a research partnership with another Cambridge biotech focused on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which CEO Ed Kaye said may be the first of several such deals.

Fresh off the U.S. approval of its drug, Exondys51, Sarepta (Nasdaq: SRPT) officials said the company plans to test that drug in combination with an anti-inflammatory drug being developed at Catabasis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: CATB) in mice. While no financial details of the collaboration were released, Kaye said they want to see if the two drugs together work better to help slow the damage to muscles.

As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, after the news was announced, shares of Catabasis were up 58 percent to $7.02, its highest point since June.

In an interview, Kaye said his company is looking at a number of other drugs in development for Duchenne that might be complementary to Exondys51 and the others it's developing to treat similar gene mutations that cause the disease. The drug being developed by Catabasis is meant to slow down muscle degeneration, and can work in patients regardless of the gene mutation. It's now in mid-stage trials.

But Kaye said he's also considering drugs that increase the body's ability to make a protein called utrophin, which is similar to dystrophin, the protein Exondys51 (which also goes by the generic name of "eteplirsen") helps create. The main company working on a utrophin drug also has a Cambridge presence: Summit Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SMMT), which earlier this year got the go-ahead from the FDA to expand a mid-stage trial of its drug into the United States.

"The approval of eteplirsen was really just the first step," said Kaye.

The partnership with Catabasis is expected to last a few months.