Basilea buys privately owned Gravitas Therapeutics for clinical-stage antifungal compound

Basilea Pharmaceutica has entered into an asset purchase agreement with privately owned Gravitas Therapeutics Inc. for GR-2397, a clinical-stage antifungal compound with a novel mechanism of action, targeting invasive mold infections caused by Aspergillus species.

David Veitch, Chief Executive Officer of Basilea, said: “This is the first transaction in the implementation of our strategy to expand our clinical-stage anti-infectives pipeline and to complement our portfolio of marketed products, Cresemba and Zevtera. We are looking forward to developing this asset.”

Dr. Marc Engelhardt, Chief Medical Officer of Basilea, said that with GR-2397, now referred to as BAL2062, the company is now adding an antifungal compound to its pipeline that has already completed a clinical phase 1 study. He said that, based on its novel mechanism of action which results in rapid fungicidal activity in vitro, BAL2062 could become a valuable treatment option against difficult-to-treat invasive mold infections.

“To define the optimal positioning and the most efficient clinical development path, we will initiate a focused preclinical profiling program. Upon successful completion of the preclinical profiling, we are planning to move directly into phase 2 clinical development in the first half of 2025,” Engelhardt said.