Oncternal Therapeutics’ ROR1 programs have gone out with a whimper, offloaded to Ho’ola Therapeutics for $3 million upfront as the biotech winds down its operations.
Ho’ola is paying the upfront, $750,000 of which is tied to the resolution of contractual obligations with third parties, for zilovertamab and ONCT-808. Zilovertamab is an anti-ROR1 antibody that reached phase 3, only for Oncternal to end the trial after the commercial landscape changed. ONCT-808 is a CAR-T that uses the zilovertamab binding domain to aim the cell therapy at ROR1.
Oncternal could receive up to $65 million in milestones if the programs are successful. Regulatory events account for $40 million of the potential paydays, with a further $20 million tied to a net sales threshold and $5 million linked to the completion of enrollment in a pivotal trial or submission for approval.
The deal, which closed Friday, positions Oncternal to wind down operations. The biotech’s directors and remaining employees resigned when the deal closed. Craig Jalbert, an accountant who has worked with multiple failed biotechs, will work as president, CEO, treasurer, secretary and sole member of Oncternal’s board of directors, overseeing the wind-down and distribution of remaining cash and future milestones.
Oncternal boarded the train to the biotech graveyard in September, when the company stopped studies in the wake of lackluster data on the androgen receptor inhibitor ONCT-534 and the death of a patient who received ONCT-808. The biotech delisted from Nasdaq in March.
Ho’ola has secured the chance to kickstart the development of zilovertamab and ONCT-808. Little is known publicly about the company. Ho’ola registered as a business in Delaware in March but otherwise made no mark on the internet prior to the deal with Oncternal.
Striking the deal with Oncternal means Ho’ola starts life with advanced programs. But investors showed little enthusiasm for the assets while they were in development at Oncternal, with questions about the strength of the data and level of competition dampening expectations. Merck & Co.’s antibody-drug conjugate, which uses zilovertamab as a targeting molecule, is among the rival ROR1 programs.