STAT+: Leukemia drug data suggested a different way to treat diabetes. A new biotech will test that idea — SkimNews
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- Caspian Therapeutics launched with $50 million in financing to develop menin inhibitors for diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases, with the round led by BVF Partners and joined by Eli Lilly and members of Kura's leadership.
- Kura Oncology researchers discovered that targeting the menin protein helped control blood sugar levels in animal studies — described in the source as a "bonus finding" from their leukemia drug work.
- The financing will advance Caspian's lead small molecule through an early-phase clinical trial in diabetes and support development of a second candidate.
- Kura Oncology will retain approximately 50% ownership of Caspian, with Kura CEO Troy Wilson serving as executive chair of the new biotech's board.
- Robert Spencer — most recently CEO of Neurommune Therapeutics and previously a drug discovery leader at Merck — was named head of Caspian Therapeutics.
Why it matters: Eli Lilly joining the $50M round gives a major pharma endorsement to a diabetes approach borrowed from leukemia research, with Caspian's early-phase trial serving as the first clinical test of menin inhibition for metabolic disease rather than oncology.
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