A curious turn for VISTA

Since the emergence of Kineta and Sensei as two biotechs still active in VISTA blockade this mechanism has continued to generate interest, albeit at a low level. The latest example came on Thursday when Hummingbird licensed its anti-VISTA contender HMBD-002 to the Australia-listed biotech Percheron Therapeutics. No up-front fee has been disclosed, and the deal, said to be worth up to $290m in total, is curious. HMBD-002 has completed a phase 1 trial, but no data from this have been published, and Percheron doesn't have a presence in oncology, its pipeline until now comprising antisense oligonucleotides for CNS diseases and acromegaly. Meanwhile, Kineta was last year taken over by TuHura for $15m plus equity, after the latter paid $5m for an option over the anti-VISTA MAb KVA12123. Sensei remains the most active player in this space: its lead anti-VISTA MAb SNS-101 now carries the INN solnerstotug, and its pipeline has been bolstered by the addition of SNS-201, a preclinical molecule that hits VISTA as well as the co-stimulatory protein CD28. Another curiosity in the VISTA pipeline is the Keynote-E80 study of PharmAbcine's PMC-309 plus Keytruda; despite having an expected start date of November 2023 this is apparently still not recruiting.

The anti-VISTA MAb pipeline

Notes: *anti-VISTA x CD28 MAb; **anti-VISTA x mesothelin x interferon-β trispecific immunocytokine. Source: OncologyPipeline.