Dec. 6 Quick Takes: Gossamer falls on PAH data

6MWD data for seralutinib in pulmonary arterial hypertension sent shares of Gossamer Bio Inc. (NASDAQ:GOSS) tumbling $6.93 (75%) to $2.36 Tuesday even as the company said top-line data showed the inhaled tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting PDGFRα/β, CSF1R, and c-KIT met the Phase II TORREY study’s primary endpoint of pulmonary vascular resistance (p=0.0310). The company said the observed mean difference on the secondary endpoint of 6MWD between placebo and seralutinib of 6.5 meters numerically favored the seralutinib. The company has said it plans to begin Phase III testing in 3Q23.

HotSpot Therapeutics Inc. will use its Smart Allostery drug discovery platform to develop a small molecule IRF5 inhibitor to treat autoimmune diseases under an exclusive worldwide deal with AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV). HotSpot, whose program is in discovery, will receive $40 million up front and be eligible for up to $295 million in option fees and R&D milestones, as well as undisclosed commercial milestones payments and tiered royalties on global net sales. The companies said that attempts to modulate IRF5 with conventional small molecules have failed due to its lack of a traditional active site, adding that they believe HotSpot’s therapy to be the first and only disclosed small molecule IRF5 inhibitor that targets a previously unknown allosteric pocket on the protein.   ...