Well, the resident pumpers here would tell you that all OMPD needed was “tweaking” for better delivery.
Taken from the September 16 ASX release:
”The three non-clinical BB-301 studies will support the optimization of the methods of administration, confirm the efficiency of vector transduction in the key tissue compartments underlying the disease phenotype, confirm the optimal drug doses in advance of initiation of human clinical studies, and finalize experiments designed to characterize any toxicological data- points that would underlie future regulatory filings and clinical study designs. The non-clinical studies will be conducted in canine subjects.”
Look at all those things the canine studies are supposed to ‘confirm’. This seriously doesn’t scream ‘homerun, clinic-ready’ to me. And perhaps not to Axovant either. Axovant probably read the writing on the wall that it would take too much capital to advance further studies, and pulled out.
Given the sooner results of Axovant’s current programs, it is a no-brainer why they are advancing the programs they are.
Benitec has a long hill ahead of it to establish good canine data, and then to find some way of advancing OPMD now that the September deadline has passed.
Even with good news on OPMD canine data, they still have to either find a partner, or raise funds to start their own trial. I’m not sure what this all means now that they are a subsidiary. Sure a far cry from when we all first invested, but I pulled out the majority of my shares before the sp tanked to all time lows. Got a better investment opportunity at the moment. Still have some Benitec shares, but 90% of my investment is out until I see OPMD data at the minimum.
