Kura Oncology has spun out Caspian around KO-7246, which seeks to increase the number and activity of beta cells in the pancreas, in turn boosting insulin production in patients with diabetes.
Caspian Therapeutics has arrived on the biopharma scene, bringing with it $50 million in starting funds, a potentially disease-modifying answer for diabetes and the backing of the industry’s biggest player in metabolic disease, Eli Lilly.
Caspian was spun out from Kura Oncology specifically to advance an investigational menin inhibitor for diabetes, according to a Wednesday announcement. The $50 million funding will support initial clinical proof-of-concept assessments in this indication, as well as help push the drug, dubbed KO-7246, through investigational new drug (IND)-enabling development. Caspian will also use the money for a second menin blocker for diabetes and cardiometabolic conditions, though not much is known about this asset.
The funding push was led by BVF Partners with participation from Kura, diabetes powerhouse Eli Lilly and others.
Designed to be taken orally, KO-7246 is a next-generation small-molecule blocker of menin, a scaffold protein that, according to Caspian, helps control the multiplication of pancreatic beta cells. In excess, menin’s activity could impair the pancreas’s ability to produce insulin, resulting in diabetes.
Available treatments for diabetes work by supplementing the body’s insulin levels or targeting excess sugar in the blood. Caspian claims it is taking a separate, disease-modifying approach with KO-7426, “increasing the number and function” of the beta cells. Indeed, the biotech on Wednesday pointed to animal studies that have shown improvements in glycemic control and insulin production after menin inhibition, underscoring the approach’s therapeutic potential for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Caspian plans to file an IND application for KO-7426 “as soon as practicable,” according the Wednesday release.
Under the terms of the launch, Caspian will have its own masthead and be under an “intercompany services arrangement” with Kura, under which the spinoff will have access to its parent company’s R&D and corporate capabilities. Kura will retain around 50% ownership of Caspian and have board representation.
Caspian is entering a competitive cardiometabolic market, going up against some of the industry’s heaviest hitters, including its own backer Eli Lilly. The giant from Indiana owns the powerhouse tirzepatide franchise, sold as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and as Zepbound for chronic weight management. Across both of these brands, tirzepatide made $36.51 billion in 2025—a sales total that cleanly outpaced Merck’s mega-blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda. Lilly also markets its newly launched weight loss pill Foundayo.
Perhaps an under-appreciated leader in the diabetes arena is Sanofi, which in June won the FDA’s approval for Tzield as the first disease-modifying therapy for pediatric patients with stage 3 type 1 diabetes. The greenlight marked “the end of the beginning” of diabetes treatments, Michael Haller, chief of pediatric endocrinology at the University of Florida, told BioSpace in July. That first chapter was characterized by the exclusive use of insulin-based treatments, he explained.
“Hopefully now these other drugs in the pipeline can achieve a similar regulatory approval process and allow us to use personalized approaches to figure out which therapies are going to work best for individual patients.”
