- Phase 2 trial initiation in patients with sleep /wake disorders results in milestone payment of US$3.5 million to Nxera
Tokyo, Japan and Cambridge, UK, 13 November 2024 – Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. (“Nxera” or “the Company”; TSE 4565) – formerly known as Sosei Group or Sosei Heptares – notes that Centessa Pharmaceuticals has initiated a Phase 2 trial of ORX750, an investigational, orally administered, highly potent and selective orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonist for the treatment of narcolepsy type 1 (NT1), narcolepsy type 2 (NT2), and idiopathic hypersomnia.
The achievement of this milestone results in a payment of US$3.5 million to Nxera pursuant to its research collaboration with Centessa. This will be recognised as revenue in Q4 FY2024. The clinical development milestone was reported in Centessa’s Q3 Financial Results statement on 12 November 2024 – the full announcement can be found by clicking here.
ORX750 was designed using Nxera technology to directly target the underlying pathophysiology of orexin neuron loss in NT1, with potential applicability to NT2, idiopathic hypersomnia, and other sleep-wake disorders with normal orexin levels.
The ORX750 program originated from a strategic co-investment between Nxera and Medicxi, the life sciences investment firm, in 2019, which subsequently resulted in Nxera owning 929,353 shares in Centessa Pharmaceuticals (valued, as of today’s date, at approximately US$15 million). Nxera stands to benefit from the potential appreciation of its equity holding in Centessa and also from further milestone payments and royalty income tied to the successful development of ORX750.
Matt Barnes, EVP, President of Nxera Pharma UK and Head of R&D, said: “This clinical development milestone with ORX750 is an important example of how our unique technology can be deployed to generate novel molecules with the potential to address unmet clinical needs. It also highlights the progress being made across the 12 clinical-stage programs in our extensive in-house and partnered portfolio. It is exciting to see this portfolio mature as it advances, and we look forward to reporting future milestones.”
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About Nxera Pharma
Nxera Pharma (formerly Sosei Heptares) is a technology powered biopharma company, in pursuit of new specialty medicines to improve the lives of patients with unmet needs in Japan and globally.
In addition to several products being commercialized in Japan, we are advancing an extensive pipeline of over 30 active programs from discovery through to late clinical stage internally and in partnership with leading pharma and biotech companies. This pipeline is focused on addressing major unmet needs in some of the fastest-growing areas of medicine across neurology, GI and immunology, metabolic disorders and rare diseases, and leverages the power of our unique and industry leading GPCR-targeted structure-based drug discovery NxWaveTM platform to provide a sustainable source of best- or first-in-class candidates.
Nxera employs over 350 talented people at key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK), Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea) and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565).
For more information, please visit www.nxera.life
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Enquiries:
Nxera – Media and Investor Relations
Kentaro Tahara, VP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy
Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures
Maya Bennison, Communications Manager
+81 (0)3 5210 3399 | +44 (0)1223 949390 |IR@Nxera.life
MEDiSTRAVA (for International Media)
Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall, Erica Hollingsworth
+44 (0)203 928 6900 | Nxera@medistrava.com
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Nxera Pharma Group’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
