Biohaven acquires rights to potential brain disorder drug BHV-8000 for $10M upfront

Biohaven (NYSE:BHVN) said it acquired global rights, excluding China regions, for BHV-8000 to treat brain disorders from Hangzhou Highlightll Pharmaceutical.

Highlightll will get $10M cash upfront and $10M in Biohaven equity, development and commercial milestone payments of up to $950M, plus royalties.

The companies will coordinate clinical development across global regions.

BHV-8000 (previously TLL-041) is an oral, brain-penetrant, dual inhibitor of Tyrosine Kinase 2 (TYK2) and Janus Kinase 1 (JAK1) being developed for the potential treatment of brain disorders. Currently, there no brain penetrant, selective, dual TYK2/JAK1 inhibitors approved for brain disorders, the company added.

Biohaven said the compound was designed to be brain penetrant while delivering dual selectivity for TYK2/JAK1 without the toxicity of JAK2/JAK3.

Biohaven expects to advancing the drug into a phase 1 trial in 2023.

"The addition of BHV-8000 expands our growing and diverse set of complementary neuro-immunomodulatory therapeutic approaches including selective extracellular degraders (commonly referred to as LYTACs or MoDEs) against IgG, IgA, and antigen-specific targets in development at Biohaven," said Biohaven's Chairman and CEO Vlad Coric.

Highlightll was founded by Chris Liang and is focused on developing small molecules to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, Biohaven noted.

SA contributor writes: Biohaven: Spun And Done - Time To Exit