Boulevard Bio, a new startup co-founded by pioneering autoimmune disease researcher Georg Schett, officially launched Wednesday with $65 million in its coffers and three experimental drugs.
One of those medicines is already in early testing. Called BLVD-101, that drug is a so-called bispecific antibody aimed at a pair of targets known to drive the progressive kidney condition IgA nephropathy.
IgAN has become a popular target for drugmakers of late. In the last year, U.S. regulators have approved two drugs, Vera Therapeutics’ Trutakna and Otsuka Pharmaceutical’s Voyxact. A third from Vertex Pharmaceuticals could follow.
BLVD-101 works similarly to Vera and Vertex’s medicines, homing in on the “BAFF” and “APRIL” cytokines that help accelerate production of the “autoantibodies” that mistakenly attack kidney tissue in IgAN. Those medicines need to be taken weekly or monthly. BLVD-101, by comparison, could be dosed every 12 weeks, potentially freeing patients “of the tremendous burden that they carry in autoimmune diseases,” said Boulevard CEO Mahesh Karande.
A second Boulevard prospect named BLVD-201 is a “trispecific” medicine that draws T cells to two proteins, CD19 and BCMA, on the surface of B cells. Boulevard licensed the drug in June from China-based drug developer METiS TechBio for $20 million up front and possibly as much as $1.6 billion in future payouts. A third candidate is directed at an unspecified “novel target combination,” according to a statement. Both are in preclinical development and being advanced against autoimmune conditions linked to malfunctioning B cells.
