NEW YORK – Ikena Oncology has acquired Pionyr Immunotherapeutics in an all-stock transaction, enabling Ikena to advance two targeted oncology programs and adding Pionyr's immuno-oncology pipeline to its partnering portfolio, the companies said on Monday.
In the transaction, Ikena acquired all of Pionyr's assets including approximately $43 million in net cash. Pionyr shareholders were issued about 1.8 million shares of Ikena common stock with the remainder issued as nonvoting convertible preferred stock at $7.15 per share. Following the transaction, Pionyr shareholders own around 12 percent of Ikena's outstanding shares.
In October 2022, Ikena, which is headquartered in Boston, began a collaboration with AstraZeneca to advance IK-930 with AstraZeneca's EGFR inhibitor Tagrisso (osimertinib) in EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. Toward that end, Ikena committed to enrolling patients with advanced EGFR-mutant NSCLC to receive IK-930-Tagrisso in an ongoing Phase I trial of IK-930 in advanced solid tumors.
IK-930 binds to the TEAD transcription factor near the end of the Hippo pathway and prevents expression of multiple cancer driver genes. The Hippo pathway is involved in regulation of cell fate, proliferation, and survival. It is genetically altered in about 10 percent of all cancers and as frequently as 40 percent in certain cancers such as mesothelioma. In epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, a rare type of soft tissue sarcoma, 100 percent of patients have Hippo pathway fusion genes.
Ikena is also developing IK-595, a MEK-RAF inhibitor, in partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb. It expects to submit an investigational new drug application for that program to regulatory authorities by the end of the year.
Pionyr is developing novel antibodies based on a technology platform that enhances the immune system's anti-tumor response by altering the cellular infiltrate of the tumor microenvironment. Its candidates PY314 and PY159, which are designed to deplete and reprogram tumor-associated macrophages involved in immunosuppression, have shown safety alone and combined with Merck's Keytruda (pembrolizumab) in Phase I clinical trials.
In a Phase Ia/b trial, investigators evaluated safety and pharmacokinetic properties of PY314 in patients with advanced solid tumors expressing TREM2 (triggering receptor expressed on macrophages 2) and found that the drug was safe and well tolerated as a single agent and in combination with Keytruda.