i2o Therapeutics says it acquired the diabetes-treating assets of one-time medtech unicorn Intarcia Therapeutics.
The Boston-based company acquired and integrated Intarcia’s proprietary assets and made a big personnel move. With CEO Ravi Srinivasan moving onto other opportunities, i2o named Kurt Graves as chair, president and CEO.
Graves previously served as executive chair of the i2o board, taking that position in August 2021. He also previously served as chair, president and CEO of Intarcia.
At one point, Intarcia held the label of potential game-changer in diabetes. The company developed a type 2 diabetes drug and a proprietary six-month GLP-1 implant for delivery.
Investors valued the company at more than $5 billion. But despite the hype, the FDA refused to allow Intarcia’s ITCA 650 on the market. Trials identified that it might cause acute kidney issues, while the company ran into some production challenges.
Intarcia received a lifeline earlier this year when the FDA allowed it to request a public advisory committee hearing after two previous rejections.
i20, a startup founded in 2019, also said it raised a $46 million Series A round with “top-tier” biotech investors.
More about the potential i2o lifeline for Intarcia
i20 itself has active work to advance the ionic liquids technology on a GLP-1 asset. GLP-1, a drug class including Ozempic and Wegovy, has cast a shadow of doubt over diabetes technology of late. This therapeutic class, a glucagon-like peptide 1, has proven to lead to improved blood sugar control and weight loss.
Analysts even recently trimmed some forecasts on sales to reflect increased pressure on diabetes technology as a whole with GLP-1 updates. The current trend impacted market responses to the likes of Insulet and Embecta in this most recent quarter. It even had an impact on Intuitive Surgical and its surgical robot for bariatric procedures.
Vivani Medical is another company looking to penetrate the market with a GLP-1-delivering implant.
i20’s Intarcia asset acquisition covers pipeline assets in the cardiometabolic space. It includes long-acting GLP-1s, Amylin, Glucagon and PYY. The company also acquired ITCA 650 and the Medici implant technology platform. Intarcia’s long-heralded but maligned platform has a public hearing before an FDA advisory committee on Sept. 21.
“The cardiometabolic assets and novel delivery platforms we have at i2o are important at a time when global policy and health officials are increasingly concerned by soaring diabetes and obesity prevalence rates and the massive implications that poor glucose and weight control will have on healthcare systems, societies, and global economies for decades to come,” said new CEO Graves. “At i2o, our ultimate goal is to be an important part of the novel GLP-1 based combination products and innovative drug delivery solutions that are needed to raise the standards of care, address widespread unmet needs around poor control and poor adherence, and to help remove the barriers to access, affordability, and supply that are needed to help millions of patients.”
