UroGen Pharma has opened another front in its attack on bladder cancer, paying IconOVir Bio $4 million in stock for an early-phase oncolytic virus that could work like a turbocharged Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy.
New Jersey-based UroGen is acquiring the candidate, dubbed ICVB-1042, and taking on certain liabilities and obligations in exchange for the all-stock upfront payment and the promise of potential future paydays. The company will pay $15 million in cash if products that incorporate or comprise ICVB-1042 hit a sales milestone. UroGen is also on the hook for a low, single-digit percentage royalty on global net sales.
The outlay gives UroGen control of a candidate that IconOVir designed to overcome the failings of older oncolytic viruses. Earlier attempts to use viruses to kill cancer cells were held back by the propensity for the pathogens to enter and replicate in healthy cells. Developers dialed back the efficacy and injected their drugs directly into tumors to limit the harm to healthy cells, undermining their drugs in the process.
Building on work at the Salk Institute, IconOVir designed its lead candidate to enter cells that express human CD46. Preclinical results suggested the virus doesn’t replicate in healthy cells and is suitable for systemic administration. Yet, there are signs that early excitement about the program drained away.
IconOVir raised $77 million to take ICVB-1042 into the clinic at the start of 2021. The biotech dosed the first patient in a phase 1 trial in July 2023. At that time, IconOVir planned to publish initial safety results in the second half of the year and release proof-of-concept data in 2024. Instead, the biotech went silent. IconOVir recently stopped enrolling patients in the first-in-human study.
The company hasn’t published a press release since disclosing the start of the phase 1 trial. IconOVir’s last LinkedIn post is about three members of the C-suite speaking at a Jefferies event in June 2024. Two of the executives, Chief Medical Officer Julie Maltzman, M.D., and Chief Scientific Officer Heba Nowyhed, Ph.D., have left the company in recent months for Adicet Bio and Arcellx, respectively.
Arie Belldegrun, M.D., is the connective tissue between UroGen and IconOVir. Belldegrun is chair of the board of directors at UroGen and Two River, the VC shop that founded IconOVir. Entities affiliated with Belldegrun could receive around 28% of the purchase price paid to IconOVir.
UroGen has bought ICVB-1042 in the belief the therapy may be able to selectively destroy cancer cells while retaining potency and triggering a robust immune response. BCG therapy, a stalwart of bladder cancer care, stimulates the immune system but lacks the direct cancer-killing potential of ICVB-1042.