DalCor Pharmaceuticals Sets Sights on Drug Reboot

Biotech Investing
Biotech Investing

Why should investors pay attention to DalCor Pharmaceuticals latest news.

On Tuesday, Montreal-based pharmaceutical startup DalCor Pharmaceuticals completed a $150 million private financing. While at the onset the news sounds run-of-the-mill – companies complete financings all the time – it is what the company intends to do with the funding that should perk the market’s attention. DalCor Pharamceuticals will be using the proceeds of the financing to fund the Phase 3 clinical trial of dalcetrapib –a CETP inhibitor – in a genetically distinct population of patients with cardiovascular disease.
So what’s the big deal?
CETP inhibition may be a term that investors are familiar with. CETP inhibitors are part of a class of drugs that inhibit cholesterylester transfer protein. The goal of CETP inhibitors is to substantially increase good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol as well as to reverse the transport of cholesterol. Investors may also be aware that CETP inhibitor drugs are largely associated with failure after several letdowns from Big Pharma.


As Fierce Biotech highlights, several multinationals have tried and failed in their efforts with CETP inhibition. The most recent company being Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY), who called it quits on evacetrapib after coming to the conclusion that while the drug acted as it should – raising good cholesterol and lowering bad cholesterol –  it did so without moving impacting a patient’s risk of cardio events. Likewise, Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY) ditched the drug, after it failed to prevent heart attacks and strokes while in phase 3 trials. Furthermore, with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) also called it quits on the CETP drug, leaving Merck (NYSE:MRK) stranded with anacetrapib following a significant four-year study.
Undoubtedly, these examples of multinational companies unable to make progress with the drug do not bode well for a startup. Still, the company has come up with an angle that it hopes will prove successful.

What’s different this time?

Unlike other with studies, DalCor is looking to do things a little differently. Using some genetic data gleaned from a Roche’s phase 3 study of dalcetrapib several years ago, a group of heart and drug researchers have laid claim to a personalized approach that could prove successful for a selection of the market.
“Analyses of the cardiovascular dal-Outcomes trial revealed a genetically distinct patient population in which dalcetrapib demonstrated a statistically significant 39 percent reduction in cardiovascular events in patients who were already taking statins.” the company said is a statement. “A subsequent prospective analysis showed regression of atherosclerotic plaque in a patient population with the same genetic profile. The patients with this genotype represented approximately 20 percent of the patients genotyped in the 15,871 patient dal-Outcomes trial.”


That said, by targeting individuals with the genotype, the firm hopes expects to see different results.
“This trial represents a major step forward in cardiovascular medicine, opening new doors and creating therapeutic options for patients of specific genetic composition suffering from heart disease.” Robert McNeil, Ph.D., chief executive officer of DalCor, said in a statement, “We believe that targeting a genetically specific patient population with dalcetrapib has the potential to dramatically reduce cardiovascular risk in this select patient population and will demonstrate the long expected benefit of CETP inhibitors. DalCor and its investors are committed to developing dalcetrapib as the first precision medicine for cardiovascular treatment personalized for patients with a specific genetic profile.”
While the company is enthusiastic about its approach, there are still skeptics in the crowd, including Dan Rader, a cholesterol expert at the University of Pennsylvania ”
“I don’t know that there’s ever been a drug that failed in a large phase 3 program [where] genetic testing identified a potential subgroup that might benefit,” said Dan Rader, a cholesterol expert at University of Pennsylvania, who is an adviser to the company. “This is a grand experiment on a grand scale.”

What should investors take away?

While DalCor is a private company, its ambition to revive a failed drug should not be shrugged off. With cardiovascular disease listed among the top killers worldwide, a successful iteration of the CETP inhibitor could be a significant step in helping individuals suffering from heart disease, by lowering their bad cholesterol levels and significantly increasing the good cholesterol levels.
As the Wall Street Journal outlines, “The trial raises the provocative possibility that other failed drugs might be revived based on genetic variations that affect how patients respond.”
This means that the if the company is successful, other companies may look at alternative approaches to other failed drugs.
 
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Securities Disclosure: I, Vivien Diniz, hold no investment interest in any of the companies mentioned in this article.

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