The week in pharma: action, reaction and insight – week to September 23

Among last week’s news was French drugmaker Genfit announcing its decision to acquire Swiss firm Versantis for 42 million Swiss francs ($42 million) with a further 65 million francs contingent, in order to expand its liver disease portfolio. On the regulatory front, US biotech bluebird bio finally gained US Food and Drug Administration approval for its gene therapy Skysona (eli-cel), a treatment for a rare brain disease. Also, a positive vote from an FDA advisory committee sets the scene for Danish firm Ferring’s Rebyota to become the first microbiome-based therapy. Going against recent big pharma trends, the UK’s GSK has entered into a licensing deal for an antibiotic asset, VS-01, being developed by Spero Therapeutics.

Versantis deal expands rare liver disease pipeline

Commenting on the deal, SVB Securities analyst Thomas Smith noted that Versantis’ lead asset is VS-01, a first-in-class scavenging liposomal-based candidate currently in clinical development as a potential first-line therapy for the timely recovery of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and urea cycle disorder (UCD). Genfit plans to initiate a Phase II proof-of-concept study of VS-01 in ACLF in 4Q22, with interim efficacy and safety data expected in 1H24. The acquisition also includes VS-02, a pre-clinical oral, small molecule being developed for the chronic management of hepatic encephalopathy (HE).