Chinook Therapeutics nabs global rights to atrasentan

Venture capital-backed Canadian biotech firm Chinook Therapeutics has entered into a license agreement with US major AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) for worldwide, exclusive rights to atrasentan, an endothelin receptor antagonist.

Chinook, which last summer raised $65 million in a Series A financing, will assume all development and commercialization responsibilities for atrasentan globally. Chinook plans to initiate a clinical trial of atrasentan in the second half of 2020 for biomarker-selected patients with a rare primary glomerular kidney disease at high risk for progressive kidney function loss.

“This in-license of atrasentan provides a unique opportunity for Chinook to add a potential new drug to its precision medicine portfolio for the treatment of rare, severe chronic kidney diseases,” said Eric Dobmeier, president and chief executive of Chinook, adding: “We have plans to advance the program into a clinical trial for primary glomerular disease patients who have few other treatment options, in addition to exploring other addressable patient populations.”