Octagon Therapeutics has thrown in the towel. The Novo Nordisk-allied autoimmune disease biotech is winding down after deprioritizing its lead program and running into unresolved biology questions.
Isaac Stoner, the co-founder and CEO of Octagon, disclosed the decision to close the biotech on LinkedIn Monday. Stoner said the action followed “the deprioritization of a lead B cell immunomodulator program and unresolved biology questions around a high-potential pipeline effort.”
Octagon initially focused on developing antibiotics for multidrug-resistant infections but later shifted its attention to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The pivot was built on evidence that the biotech could suppress cells that cause autoimmune disease—without disrupting healthy immune activities—by restoring the activity of immune checkpoint receptors.
OCT50 was the most advanced manifestation of that idea. Octagon designed the molecule to suppress autoreactive B cells that drive autoimmune conditions such as lupus and multiple sclerosis by restoring the natural regulatory role of Siglec-2.
Octagon got as far as selecting a development candidate for the OCT50 program before calling it quits, according to the biotech’s public pipeline. The next most advanced asset was OCT102, which was back at the target validation stage. Octagon designed OCT102 to suppress secretion of inflammatory cytokines involved in certain inflammatory diseases by acting on an undisclosed checkpoint.
The biotech raised $11 million last year, adding to the smaller sums it pulled in across earlier financings. Octagon formed a research alliance with Novo in 2022. The company took part in Novo’s Co-creation Greenhouse accelerator program, demonstrating its ability to discover therapeutic targets and landing a chance to collaborate with the Danish drugmaker on cardiometabolic diseases.