Finch Therapeutics Announces Clinical Collaboration in Ulcerative Colitis with Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Updates to University of Minnesota License Agreement
SOMERVILLE, Mass., April 18, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Finch Therapeutics Group, Inc. (“Finch”, “Finch Therapeutics” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: FNCH), a microbiome technology company with a portfolio of intellectual property and microbiome assets, today announced that it has entered into a clinical trial agreement with Brigham and Women’s Hospital for the evaluation of CP101, a Complete Consortia microbiome therapeutic, in ulcerative colitis. The Company also announced updates to its license agreement with the University of Minnesota.
Under the clinical trial agreement, Brigham and Women’s Hospital will conduct an investigator-sponsored trial that is designed to compare two doses of CP101 in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis. The study is designed to generate data on safety, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and clinical efficacy, and aims to build on a growing body of evidence supporting the role of the microbiome in improving outcomes for patients suffering from ulcerative colitis. Topline data from this clinical study is anticipated in 2025.
The Company also announced that it has amended its license agreement with the University of Minnesota, through which Finch has exclusively licensed 13 issued patents and 7 patent applications covering specific approaches to formulations comprising human fecal microbes, methods of increasing microbiota diversity, and methods of decreasing the relative abundance of certain bacteria. A key feature of the amendment allows Finch to satisfy certain performance milestones through sublicensing agreements, aligning with Finch’s new strategic focus on collaborations and partnerships.
“Today’s announcements reflect our continued progress executing against our strategy to build value and advance our microbiome technology through external partnerships,” said Mark Smith, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Finch Therapeutics. “The clinical trial agreement to evaluate CP101 in ulcerative colitis builds on many years of work at Finch to develop product candidates to serve this important unmet medical need. We look forward to working with our collaborators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to evaluate CP101 in this new clinical setting, where I believe an orally administered Complete Consortia product offers the potential to reset the pathophysiology of this disease. I am also pleased to extend our long-standing relationship with the University of Minnesota, which we believe positions us to continue to advance our microbiome technology through collaborations and partnerships.”
About CP101
CP101 is an investigational, orally administered microbiome therapeutic designed to deliver a diverse microbial community. CP101 is designed to address multiple therapeutic indications by restoring a diverse microbial community and key physiological pathways that are believed to be disrupted in multiple gut- and immune-related diseases.
About Finch Therapeutics
Finch Therapeutics is a microbiome technology company with a portfolio of intellectual property and microbiome assets. Finch has a robust intellectual property estate reflecting the Company’s pioneering role in the microbiome therapeutics field, including more than 70 issued U.S. and foreign patents with critical relevance for both donor-derived and donor-independent microbiome therapeutics in a range of potential indications. Finch’s assets include CP101, an investigational, orally administered microbiome candidate with positive clinical date from a Phase 2 randomized, placebo-controlled trial and a Phase 2 open-label trial in recurrent C. difficile infection (CDI). Additionally, Finch has pre-clinical assets that are designed to target ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and autism spectrum disorder, along with a significant biorepository of samples and microbial strains. In January 2023, Finch announced a decision to discontinue its Phase 3 trial of CP101 in recurrent CDI. Following this decision, Finch is focused on realizing the value of its intellectual property estate and other assets, while supporting the advancement of its microbiome technology through partnerships and collaborations.
“We believe that Finch has made significant progress towards restructuring the business to maximize value for shareholders through our robust intellectual property estate, including by continuing to support the advancement of our microbiome technology through partnerships and collaborations,” said Mark Smith, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Finch Therapeutics. “As part of our restructuring, we have significantly decreased costs by reducing vendor and employee expenses, extending our expected cash runway into 2025. We expect this will support company operations well beyond our anticipated jury trial with Ferring and Rebiotix, which is scheduled for May 2024, over what we believe is their ongoing unauthorized use of our intellectual property. In addition to these recent developments, we continue to pursue partnerships with leading research institutions to explore new opportunities for our microbiome technology to address a variety of important unmet clinical needs.”
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