Nxera Pharma Co., Ltd. (“Nxera” or “the Company”; TSE 4565) – formerly known as Sosei Group or Sosei Heptares – notes that Centessa Pharmaceuticals has initiated a Phase 2 trial of ORX750, an investigational, orally administered, highly potent and selective orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonist for the treatment of narcolepsy type 1 (NT1), narcolepsy type 2 (NT2), and idiopathic hypersomnia.

The achievement of this milestone results in a payment of US$3.5 million to Nxera pursuant to its research collaboration with Centessa. This will be recognised as revenue in Q4 FY2024. The clinical development milestone was reported in Centessa’s Q3 Financial Results statement on 12 November 2024 – the full announcement can be found by clicking here.

ORX750 was designed using Nxera technology to directly target the underlying pathophysiology of orexin neuron loss in NT1, with potential applicability to NT2, idiopathic hypersomnia, and other sleep-wake disorders with normal orexin levels.

The ORX750 program originated from a strategic co-investment between Nxera and Medicxi, the life sciences investment firm, in 2019, which subsequently resulted in Nxera owning 929,353 shares in Centessa Pharmaceuticals (valued, as of today’s date, at approximately US$15 million). Nxera stands to benefit from the potential appreciation of its equity holding in Centessa and also from further milestone payments and royalty income tied to the successful development of ORX750.

Matt Barnes, EVP, President of Nxera Pharma UK and Head of R&D, said: “This clinical development milestone with ORX750 is an important example of how our unique technology can be deployed to generate novel molecules with the potential to address unmet clinical needs. It also highlights the progress being made across the 12 clinical-stage programs in our extensive in-house and partnered portfolio. It is exciting to see this portfolio mature as it advances, and we look forward to reporting future milestones.”