A new San Diego biotech is starting life with something most startups only dream of: $90 million in the bank and a drug that has already been tested in people. Setara Biosciences announced the completion of a $90 million Series A financing to push forward STAR-0871, a small-molecule drug aimed at a rare inherited nerve disease and, separately, the far more common problem of overactive bladder.
According to a company announcement carried by BioSpace, Setara has completed the healthy-volunteer portion of a Phase 1 clinical trial of STAR-0871, formerly known as ABS-0871. The drug is a TRPV4 inhibitor, designed to block an ion-channel protein that, per MedCity News, is widely expressed throughout the body and involved in a range of physiological functions. That dual-purpose biology is exactly why Setara is chasing two such different conditions with a single molecule.
One Molecule, Two Very Different Diseases
The first target is Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2C, a rare inherited condition caused by gain-of-function mutations in the TRPV4 gene that result in excessive activation of the TRPV4 ion channel, the BioSpace announcement states. MedCity News reports those overactive channels lead to peripheral nerve damage, and the company intends for STAR-0871 to selectively inhibit TRPV4 in order to address the disease's underlying cause rather than just its symptoms. CMT2C has no FDA-approved therapies, according to MedCity News, and BioSpace puts the estimated U.S. prevalence at approximately 2,500 individuals.
The second target could not be more different in scale. TRPV4 also plays a role in detecting bladder fullness, per MedCity News, which makes it relevant to overactive bladder, a condition BioSpace says affects tens of millions of patients in the U.S., where current treatments have only limited efficacy. Setara plans to initiate a separate Phase 2a study evaluating STAR-0871 in overactive bladder patients, while also planning to expand the CMT2C work into a Phase 1b study, referred to as THERON, in patients with the disease in 2027, BioSpace reports.
Born From a Jazz Pharmaceuticals Acquisition
Setara did not start from scratch. The company was created from the rare-disease assets of Actio Biosciences after Jazz Pharmaceuticals acquired Actio, according to MedCity News. Jazz's interest was in a different Actio drug, ABS-1230, a small-molecule KCNT1 ion-channel inhibitor developed for KCNT1-related epilepsy, a condition for which Jazz Pharmaceuticals says there are currently no FDA-approved therapies. That asset stayed with Jazz, while Actio's other rare-disease programs, including the CMT2C drug now called STAR-0871, were spun off into the new independent company.
The financial terms of the underlying Jazz-Actio deal have been reported two different ways. Jazz's own announcement, via PR Newswire, describes a definitive agreement for Jazz to acquire privately-held Actio for $820 million upfront and up to $500 million in contingent consideration. BioPharma Dive, by contrast, reported that Jazz paid $1.3 billion to buy Actio for that program in August. Jazz's investor relations page confirms that once the deal closed, Actio became a wholly owned subsidiary of Jazz, while certain non-ABS-1230 programs were transferred to the new spinout, with Jazz receiving a minority stake and related rights.
New Shareholder, Familiar Leadership
Jazz Pharmaceuticals itself joined Setara's financing as a new shareholder as part of the Actio acquisition, per the BioSpace announcement. Leading the new company is David Goldstein, who BioSpace identifies as Setara's co-founder, president and executive chair. BioPharma Dive has described Goldstein, Actio's former chief executive, as Setara's CEO, a title that differs from the president-and-executive-chair description in Setara's own financing announcement.
Beyond STAR-0871, Setara is also advancing a portfolio of early-stage discovery programs focused on genetic epilepsies and expansion indications including migraine, according to the BioSpace release. Morningstar reports that the company is applying what it calls a one-to-many strategy that starts with rare diseases and extends to broader conditions with shared underlying biology, a framing that fits neatly with a single TRPV4 drug now being tested against both a 2,500-patient rare disease and a condition affecting tens of millions of Americans.
