February 23, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
La Jolla, Calif.-based Cebix closed its operations quietly, it was reported today. Founded on Jan. 1, 2008, the company focused on developing treatments for diabetic complications affecting nerve, kidney and eye function.
The company developed a peptide, Ersatta, which was a replacement for C-peptide, which forms in the body as a byproduct of insulin production. Diabetics with decreased insulin production have low levels of C-peptide production. Loss of C-peptide has been implicated in many of the side effects connected to type 1 diabetes, including microvascular deterioration, loss of sensation (neuropathy), problems with kidney function and vision loss.
C-peptide was discovered in 1967 and was generally believed to primarily act as part of insulin production. In the 1990s Swedish researcher John Wahren, one of the founders of Cebix, published a paper showing that C-peptide apparently had widespread recovery effects on muscle vasculator, renal function, nerve function and blood flow. In other words, C-peptide had other functions besides acting as a middleman during insulin production.
Because neuropathy affects 60 to 70 percent of diabetic patients and there is no treatment other than tight blood sugar controls and pain medications, Ersatta showed great promise in a very large market with no competition. “We concluded a perfectly executed Phase IIb in December, just to get definitive results that Ersatta and placebo were, alas, indistinguishable,” said Joel Martin, company chief executive officer in a statement. “We determined that there was no point in further development and moved to wind down operations. As efficient as ever, we did that in 30 days.”
The company was noted for operating lean and making the most of its finances. Martin was a former partner at Forward Ventures, ran Altair Therapeutics, an Isis spinout, and also co-founded and acted as chief executive of Quantum Dot Corporation, which was eventually acquired by Life Technologies.
Cebix had considerable support from investors, including $7.4 million in October 2009, $16 million from Thomas, McNerney & Partners, InterWest Partners and Sofinnova Ventures in 2010, and $8.8 million in 2012. In October 2012 Sofinnova, InterWest and Thomas, McNerney & Parnters invested another $30.9 million and further investments worth $33.2 million were reported in November 2014.
An earlier study in 2012 that focused on safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics indicated Ersatta was well-tolerated and had no adverse effects.
“The team and I are looking at many NewCo ideas with the support of our investors,” said Martin in a statement. “We can only control the operations, not the outcomes. We’ll be back in another guise before you know it.”
BioSpace Temperature Poll
Analyst Mark Schoenebaum, a biotech and pharmaceuticals analyst and medical doctor for ISI Group Evercore, has been running a Best Hair in Biopharma contest for several months now. So far, the candidates are Bristol-Myers Squibb Company‘s John Elicker, Receptos’ Chief Executive Officer Faheem Hasnain, Celgene‘s Vice President of Investor Relations Patrick Flanigan and Acorda Therapeutics’ Ron Cohen.
We want to know what our BioSpace community thinks: Who do you believe actually has the Best Hair in BioPharma?
| Read at BioSpace.com |
