Dermavant Licenses Portola Pharma's Cerdulatinib For Skin Applications

Dermavant Sciences has licensed cerdulatinib from Portola Pharma for topical dermatologic applications.

Cerdulatinib is a dual spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk) and janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor that Portola is developing to treat patients with resistant or relapsed blood cancer. It is being investigated in an ongoing Phase 2a trial in patients with relapsed/refractory B-cell malignancies who have failed multiple therapies. Under the terms of the agreement with Dermavant, Portola retains full rights to all non-topical formulations of cerdulatinib, including oral formulations.

Dermavant, a subsidiary of Roivant Sciences, intends to pursue the clinical development of cerdulatinib as a topical therapy for a variety of dermatologic conditions. Dermavant believes that the profile of cerdulatinib is ideal for development in these skin diseases where a growing body of evidence suggests that both JAK and Syk are important drivers of disease manifestation.

"The addition of cerdulatinib to our pipeline renders Dermavant an emerging leader in medical dermatology," says Jim Lee, MD, PhD, the newly-appointed Chief Medical Officer of Dermavant, in a news release. "Given the anti-inflammatory properties associated with both JAK and Syk inhibition we look forward to advancing the clinical development of cerdulatinib as a potential therapy for a number of dermatologic conditions with significant unmet need."

Dermavant is currently enrolling patients with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis in a Phase 2 clinical study for RVT-501, an investigational topical phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitor. Dermavant also plans to pursue the clinical development of RVT-201, a novel caspase-1 inhibitor, as a topical therapy for multiple dermatologic conditions.