Terns Pharmaceuticals is planning to stop investing in metabolic disease clinical development by year-end, starting a countdown to potential deals for assets including a midphase oral obesity prospect.
California-based Terns has one cancer candidate, the chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) asset TERN-701, and three metabolic disease programs. While the pipeline currently skews toward metabolic disease, the biotech is focusing on TERN-701 in the belief it can take the candidate through a pivotal trial and on to the market without external support. Terns CEO Amy Burroughs set out the plans for the pipeline.
“We are focusing the company in oncology and on rapidly advancing TERN-701 towards a pivotal trial, with the goal of ultimately bringing a potential best-in-class therapy to people living with CML,” the CEO said in a statement. “The company seeks to partner our portfolio of potentially best-in-class metabolic assets and does not plan to invest in clinical development in metabolic disease beyond year end 2025.”
The metabolic disease pipeline includes the oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist TERN-601. After seeing promise in four-week data, Terns moved the obesity candidate into a longer, larger phase 2 trial that will provide a clearer picture of how TERN-601 compares to Eli Lilly’s oral front-runner orforglipron.
William Blair analysts have questioned whether TERN-601 and CML candidate TERN-701 can stand out. Writing in a note to investors on Tuesday, the analysts said “we do not believe a differentiation thesis is clear at the moment, given the increasing competitiveness of both the CML and obesity treatment landscape.”
Lilly, which has already shared phase 3 data on orforglipron in diabetes, is set to publish results from its pivotal obesity program soon. Terns is aiming to release 12-week data from a phase 2 trial of TERN-601 early in the fourth quarter. Talking at a Goldman Sachs event in June, Burroughs flagged tolerability and titration as potential strengths of Terns’ candidate.
Burroughs and other Terns executives have repeatedly said at investor events that they plan to partner the obesity program for phase 3. The partnering plan reflects a belief that the resources of a larger company are needed to support TERN-601, given that R&D costs could exceed $500 million and commercialization may require a sales force capable of targeting general practitioners.
Terns also previously said its two other metabolic programs, TERN-501 and its TERN-800 series, are up for partnering. TERN-501 is the metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis candidate that Terns put on the back burner last year. The TERN-800 program is focused on oral GIPR modulators that could combine with GLP-1 agonists.