Attovia Therapeutics has filed for an IPO to secure funding for assets including a potential challenger to Sanofi and Regeneron’s Dupixent and Galderma’s Nemluvio.
Using a platform in-licensed from Alamar Biosciences, Attovia has discovered a pipeline of biologics led by a clinical-phase fusion protein, ATTO-1310, that inhibits IL-31. Because the cytokine is upregulated in disorders associated with itch, Attovia plans to study the drug candidate in conditions such as chronic pruritus of unknown origin (CPUO) and high-itch atopic dermatitis.
Galderma won FDA approval for an IL-31 drug, Nemluvio, in 2024 and doubled its peak sales forecast to more than $4 billion this year. The drug, which Galderma licensed from Roche’s Chugai in 2016, fights with products including Dupixent for the atopic dermatitis and prurigo nodularis markets. Nemluvio and Dupixent are being developed for CPUO.
Attovia’s IPO paperwork pitches ATTO-1310 as an improvement on the incumbent products. Nemluvio suffers from unoptimized potency, a reverse dose-efficacy profile and a monthly dosing schedule, Attovia said. Existing treatments for high-itch atopic dermatitis have inadequate efficacy, inconvenient dosing and burdensome adverse events, Attovia said.
The biotech designed ATTO-1310 to directly target the IL-31 ligand, differentiating it from Nemluvio. The Galderma drug targets IL-31 receptor alpha. If Attovia is right, the difference in the target will allow it to dose ATTO-1310 at higher levels and achieve deeper itch relief through stronger pathway blockade.
Attovia has begun to validate that idea in the clinic, completing an assessment of the asset in 56 healthy volunteers and reporting preliminary data in an ongoing phase 1b trial of patients with high-itch atopic dermatitis or chronic pruritus. Pooling two dose cohorts, the biotech reported that 65% of patients met its itch responder definition at Week 4. No patients on placebo met the responder definition.
Buoyed by its data, Attovia plans to start phase 2 trials in chronic pruritus and high-itch atopic dermatitis in the first half of next year. The biotech wants public investors to put up an as-yet undisclosed amount of money to fund the studies, making it part of a wave of companies testing the market’s appetite for relatively early-stage programs.
While the IPO window initially opened for biotechs with advanced programs, in recent weeks Kalohexis and Scribe Therapeutics have filed to go public while their key candidates are still in phase 1. Attovia has preliminary phase 1 data on its lead program, but its IL-13xIL-31 bispecific ATTO-2306 and the trispecific ATTO-1091 have yet to reach human testing. ATTO-2306 could enter the clinic in the first half of 2027.
Attovia has funded the programs using the proceeds of series A, B and C rounds backed by Deep Track Capital, Frazier Life Sciences, Goldman Sachs Alternatives and venBio. The company had raised $255.8 million by the end of March, leaving it with $126.8 million in working capital. Attovia topped up its bank balance with a deal that gave EndPath RadioTherapeutics rights to its platform for radioligand products.