Catalyst Biosciences Announces Agreement to Sell Three NNR Assets to Attenua

Catalyst Biosciences, Inc. recently announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell to Attenua, Inc. certain oral Neuronal Nicotinic Receptor (NNR) assets that were under development by Targacept prior to its 2015 merger with Catalyst.

Catalyst is focused on developing protease-based medicines in the fields of hemostasis and inflammation, and prior to its merger with Targacept, decided not to develop the NNR assets. The divestiture provides an upfront payment to Catalyst and may also allow Catalyst to receive up to a total of $105 million in development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on net sales from Attenua.

“The sale of certain NNR assets may allow Catalyst to realize additional value for a subset of these non-core assets as we remain focused on our protease therapeutic programs in hemophilia and anti-complement diseases,” said Catalyst President and Chief Executive Officer, Nassim Usman, PhD.

NNR agonists are a class of central nervous system drugs targeting neuronal nicotinic receptors (NNRs), also known as neuronal acetylcholine nicotinic receptors (nAChRs), which modulate the flow of neurotransmission throughout the brain and nervous system. Under the terms of the agreement, Attenua will acquire certain oral NNR assets, including related intellectual property rights and materials. The assets sold to Attenua include three molecules that have aggregate clinical experience in over 1200 patients with depression, ADHD, and Alzheimer’s disease in Phase I and II clinical trials.

“We are very excited about these clinical stage assets and their therapeutic potential,” said Attenua President and Chief Executive Officer, Jing Liang, PhD. “We plan to repurpose one molecule for cough, and another for a rare pediatric disorder. With the clinical data in a few central nervous system indications already generated, we plan to move directly into a Phase II proof-of-concept trial in cough in 2017.”

Catalyst is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on creating and developing novel medicines to address serious medical conditions. To date, Catalyst has focused its product development efforts in the field of hemostasis, including the treatment of hemophilia and surgical bleeding, and in the field of inflammation, including prevention of delayed graft function in renal transplants and the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration, a condition that can cause visual impairment or blindness. Catalyst’s most advanced program is an improved next-generation coagulation Factor VIIa variant, CB 813d, which has successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial in severe hemophilia A and B patients. In addition to Catalyst’s lead Factor VIIa program, Catalyst has two other next-generation coagulation factors, a Factor IX variant, CB 2679d/ISU 304, that is in advanced preclinical development, and a Factor Xa variant, that is in the advanced lead stage of development. For more information, visit www.catalystbiosciences.com.

Attenua is a clinical-stage biotech company focused primarily on developing novel, non-narcotic medicines to treat cough. Cough is a neglected medical problem in which no new drugs (NMEs/NCEs) have been approved since 1958. In the US, 30 to 35 million prescriptions of cough medication are dispensed each year for relief of cough and symptoms associated with upper respiratory allergies or the common cold. This includes approximately 18 million prescriptions for narcotics. In particular, there is no approved medication for treating chronic cough. The Attenua team consists of research and development leaders from academia and industry, with significant combined drug discovery and development experience involving more than 60 development programs, over 20 successful NDAs, and hundreds of peer-reviewed publications. For more information, contact investors@attenua.com.