Emerging Drug Developer: Synosia Therapeutics

Synosia relies on relationships to grow fast

Back in 2005, Synosia Therapeutics was little more than a gleam in a venture capitalist's eye.

Bradley Bolzon, an experienced biotech player and an accomplished dealmaker with Roche, had gone on to become a partner at Versant Ventures. Several years ago he reached out to an old colleague from Roche days, Ian Massey, a 30-year biotech veteran and the senior vice president of research and preclinical development for Roche Palo Alto.

"Brad was in the process of setting up a company," says Massey, who earned a doctorate in organic chemistry at Oxford. "I joined and brought a number of compounds from Roche." An A1 round of $2.5 million to prime the pump was swiftly followed by an A2 round of $30 million. And today, Synosia has a portfolio of six clinical-stage therapeutics, four of which are either already in a mid-stage trial or ready to begin one.

Synosia built that pipeline through in-licensing pacts with a trio of companies: Roche, Novartis and Syngenta. And to keep their relationships close, Synosia has an office in Switzerland--where the CFO and chief business offer are located--as well as Palo Alto, CA, where Massey and others are based.

Four of the six compounds Synosia has in clinical development came from Roche, including SYN-115 for Parkinson's and SYN-117 for cocaine dependency and post traumatic stress disorder. Last week Synosia announced that it would conduct a mid-stage trial of SYN-117 for PTSD with $1.4 million of funding from the Department of Defense.

Novartis provided Synosia's most advanced program, an epilepsy drug--Rufinamide (SYN-111)--which is now in Phase IIb for anxiety.

"The mechanisms associated with these compounds have opportunities and applications in a number of different indications," says Massey.

It's unusual for a small biotech - Synosia has only 19 staffers--advance four compounds into Phase II in such a short period. But by outsourcing some key R&D work, Massey says the company should be able to stay lean and mean.

"It was always the plan," he adds about Synosia's multiple development programs. "It's important to be able to have multiple shots on goal. The plan was to get access to compounds for which there was clinical experience and explore in clinical studies, using some of the new imaging tools available to help demonstrate mechanisms of action in humans."

There's no platform technology for identifying new compounds, and none in immediate sight.

"I have to say that there are a lot of valuable compounds sitting on the shelves of pharma companies that can be transformed into successful drugs," says Massey. "Obviously, there are major advantages getting access to compounds that have gone through a development program, where you have clinical data. You know the attrition rate of compounds out of discovery."

And pharma companies are not reluctant to bring in a biotech company to advance a prospect that's languishing on a corporate backburner.

"Pharmaceutical companies can't do everything they want to do," says Massey. "There's competition between different therapeutic areas. My sense is that the hurdles for CNS are higher than in other therapeutic areas. It's important to use the newer tools now available, imaging tools to look into the brain and see what the drugs are doing to the brain." Not having those tools earlier "hampered development of compounds."

Synosia will start to get a round of mid-stage data in the first half of next year. That could help lay the groundwork for a licensing deal for Rufinamide's anxiety indication - a mass market that would need a commercialization partner able to bring a large sales effort together. A drug like 117, though, could eventually be marketed by a small sales force fielded by Synosia. And that would help Synosia advance on its own.

Says Massey: "I personally would like to see the company move forward as an independent company, bringing forward compounds in psychology.

"We anticipate we will bring additional compounds in through in-licensing," adds Massey, "and some discussions are ongoing. We are looking at one additional opportunity at the moment and chances are we would have another opportunity come into the portfolio this year."

Versant Ventures, Abingworth Management, 5AM Ventures and Novo A/S are backing the company. Novo led the A2 round. Sometime in the next 12 months Massey expects they'll all have a chance to participate in a Series B, though he was reluctant to define just how much money Synosia will be looking for.