Part 2
KINETA, INC – Addressing the Pain Epidemic – Potential Solutions from Seattle based Kineta.
An Interview with Eric Tarcha PhD, Senior Vice President Translational Development
In previous articles, our readers were introduced to Kineta, Inc. CEO Shawn Iadonato, and Kristin Bedard. In those articles we shared with our readers the success you have had in partnerships with both Pfizer and Genentech, the two largest pharma companies in the world. These two deals are exciting for your investors and, of course, for patients too. Your deals included upfront payments of over $20 million, backend milestones of over $850 million, and double-digit royalties that could produce royalties through the mid 2030’s. Today we would like to take a deeper dive into your work in chronic pain and how Kineta is developing innovative solutions to address new treatment alternatives in pain management and the issue with opioids in America and around the world.
1. You have partnered this program with Genentech, how are they as a partner?
Genentech has proven to be an exceptional partner for us and this program. They have brought experts and thought leaders from all the different development areas to the table to provide us critical thinking and guidance as we move towards bringing KCP506 into the clinic. Both teams have developed a great synergy with each other and are truly passionate about bringing new pain drugs to the patients that need them.
2. We have all heard about the problems with opioids, and that is certainly a common news story, but how big is the chronic pain opportunity?
There is obviously such a great need for new non-opioid pain drugs. Most of the new drugs for pain treatment approved over the last 10-15 years have been a) new opioids, b) reformulations of old opioids or c) drugs that also have dose limiting and/or CNS related side effects such as addiction and tolerance. It has been estimated that 1.5 billion people globally suffer from chronic pain with over 100 million in the U.S. alone and 3-4 million new cases annually. In the U.S., this represents approximately $600 billion in annual public health costs including medical and economic (disability and lost productivity). The global market for pain management pharmaceuticals and devices is expected to reach $44.3
Thank you for time Eric, we look forward to learning more about your progress in developing new treatment options for managing pain. Kineta’s work in this field is exciting and we wish you the best of success in 2020.
