Seeking to Cash in For Investors Again, Rhythm Pharma Files For IPO
Summary
Rhythm formed one company, Motus Therapeutics, around relamoralin, a drug for diabetic gastroparesis that was later acquired by Allergan.The protein doesn’t function properly in people with the rare genetic disorders related to obesity that Rhythm is targeting.Rhythm has already begun a Phase 3 trial in POMC deficiency, an ultra-rare disorder that affects an estimated 100 to 500 people in the U.S. Data are expected in 2019.Rhythm moved the drug into late-stage testing based on a tiny, single-arm study of just two POMC deficiency patients, but setmelanotide produced dramatic effects on weight loss in that trial—the results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine last year.Rhythm has also been developing setmelanotide for the rare Prader-Willi Syndrome—a more prevalent obesity disorder than POMC deficiency—but the IPO prospectus shows that future plans on that front are up in the air.