Roivant and Plexcera spin out Farber disease biotech Enzyvant

Bermuda-based Roivant Sciences and US firm Plexcera Therapeutics have announced the formation of Enzyvant Sciences, a new biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of recombinant human acid ceramidase (rhAC), an enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of patients with Farber disease.

Developed in the lab of Professor Edward Schuchman, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, rhAC showed promising results in a mouse model of Farber disease, and was initially licensed to Plexcera prior to the formation of Enzyvant. At Enzyvant, the rhAC program will benefit from the continued involvement of the experienced medical and scientific team from Plexcera, while gaining the extensive pharmaceutical development expertise and financial support of Roivant.

Enzyvant expects to rapidly progress the development of rhAC by: