Enzyvant Therapeutics, Inc. and Altavant Sciences, Inc., both wholly owned subsidiaries of Sumitovant Biopharma Ltd., announced a merger to form a biopharmaceutical company focused on delivering life-altering therapies for people with rare diseases. The combined company retains the name Enzyvant and is equipped with a full range of capabilities spanning non-clinical and clinical development and commercialization and is in the process of developing in-house manufacturing.
Dr. Bill Symonds, current chief executive officer of both Enzyvant and Altavant, will lead the merged company. “Together, our combined team has the proven expertise to take a product from early clinical development through commercialization, and the passion and focus to drive accelerated development of urgently needed rare disease medicines in immunology and cardiopulmonology,” said Dr. Symonds. “Patients and families facing very serious and difficult-to-treat rare conditions are the inspiration for our work and vital partners in moving our programs forward.”
Enzyvant received U.S. FDA approval of its first commercial product, RETHYMIC® (allogeneic processed thymus tissue-agdc), a one-time regenerative tissue-based therapy for immune reconstitution in pediatric patients with congenital athymia, in October 2021. The company continues to advance promising therapeutic candidates targeting some of the most challenging conditions impacting the rare disease community. In its clinical trials, Enzyvant is evaluating an investigational product, rodatristat ethyl, which is designed to address a root cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension rather than only managing symptoms.
“There is an immense human need for rare disease therapies, but innovation in this field is complex. Enzyvant has a proven track record of bringing unique expertise to tackle some of the greatest unmet needs in the space,” said Myrtle Potter, chief executive officer of Sumitovant. “We believe the combined company will be better positioned to deliver breakthroughs in a way that wouldn’t have been possible separately.”
Enzyvant is now headquartered in Cary, N.C. The company is developing an in-house regenerative medicine manufacturing facility in Morrisville, N.C. Expected to be completed in the second half of 2024, the facility will provide the size, flexibility, and processing capability to serve the company’s commercial and clinical research needs for regenerative medicines. The new manufacturing facility is being co-developed by and operated with Sumitomo Pharma, which owns Enzyvant’s immediate parent company, Sumitovant. Enzyvant also will maintain offices in Cambridge, Mass., and Basel, Switzerland.
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