Life After NASH For CymaBay: An Interview With CEO Sujal Shah

With up to $100m from Abingworth and a recent $75m FOPO, CymaBay has runway to await pivotal data in primary biliary cholangitis in 2023 for seladelpar, after the candidate failed in NASH. It sees a significant market opportunity in the second-line setting cornered by Intercept.

Sujal Shah of CymaBay Pharmaceuticals.
CymaBay CEO Sujal Shah

Having shelved its PPAR delta agonist seladelpar for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in late 2019 due to safety issues, CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. followed a familiar route for NASH failures by focusing development on second-line therapy for primary biliary cholangitis. Although the indication has been pursued by multiple companies in the NASH field, including Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc.and Genfit SA, CymaBay believes seladelpar has a chance to grow the market – and it has a low-risk financing agreement with Abingworth that will help it explore PBC and perhaps other liver indications with seladelpar.

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