P&G Spinout Spins Off Another Company, While Looking To Partner Mid-Stage Oral Anemia Candidate

21 May 2012

Akebia will sell off, partner or possibly bring AKB-6548 – thought to be a safer erythropoietin stimulator than currently available injectables – through Phase III, while its spinout, Aerpio, will focus on clinical development of candidates for diabetic macular edema and inflammatory bowel disease.

About five years after being spun out of Procter & Gamble Co., Akebia Therapeutics Inc. recently launched another spinout. The two biotechs will pursue separate business plans around three molecules simultaneously. Like P&G, both companies, which share the same management, staff and a largely virtual structure, are headquartered in Cincinnati.

The new company, Aerpio Therapeutics, is focused on launching a Phase IIa study for AKB-9778, a Tie-2 activator which works...