The race for non-opioid pain drugs continues, and Latigo Biotherapeutics is building the case for a molecule it says could offer advantages over the Vertex Pharmaceuticals product that was first in a new class of medicines. With Latigo’s pill on track to enter Phase 3 testing, the company secured $346 million in IPO cash to support this program and the rest of its pipeline.
Research in non-opioid pain drugs has turned to sodium channels, pathways that transmit signals through the nervous system. Latigo’s lead program, LTG-001, selectively blocks NaV1.8, a sodium channel primarily expressed in peripheral nerve tissue and not in the brain. That’s important because the addiction risks of pain drugs, such as opioids, come from hitting targets in the central nervous system.
NaV1.8 has clinical and regulatory validation from Vertex’s suzetrigine, brand name Journavx, approved last year as a treatment for moderate-to-severe acute pain. While this twice-daily pill ushered in a new class of non-opioid pain drugs, Latigo sees opportunity for its drug to top Vertex’s with a faster onset of effect, better efficacy, and a lower risk of drug-drug interactions.
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“There is a continued unmet need in the pain management landscape, underscored by continued opioid reliance, few novel therapies brought to market, and limitations with first-generation Nav1.8 inhibitors,” Latigo said in its IPO filing. “We believe our differentiated Nav1.8 product candidates that are designed to be used alone or in multi-modal treatment and broader pipeline could transform pain management without the risk of addiction.”
In late July, the New England Journal of Medicine published results from a Phase 2b test of LTG-001 in 343 patients with moderate-to-severe pain following an abdominoplasty, also called a tummy tuck. In addition to a high and low dose of the study drug, taken orally twice daily in the two days following surgery, the trial included a Vicodin cohort and another group that received a placebo. The main goal was measuring pain over 48-hours according to sum of the pain-intensity difference (SPID), a standard rating scale used to measure pain in clinical trials. Secondary goals measured the amount of opioid rescue medication taken as well as how many patients required no rescue medication.
Results showed both doses of the study drug achieved statistically significant reductions in pain scores compared to placebo in the 48 hours after surgery. But only the high dose of LTG-001 was associated with significantly lower opioid use compared to placebo. The high dose group showed a significantly higher percentage of patients who received no opioid rescue medication.
Results for the high dose also stand out because this dose started to work quickly. In the IPO filing, Latigo said this dose achieved meaningful pain relief 52 minutes after dosing. The opioid comparator took 83 minutes to achieve meaningful pain relief. Latigo said in the filing that the speed of effect comes from rapid penetration of the drug into peripheral nerve tissue. For additional context, Vertex’s Phase 3 test of Journavx showed it started to take effect 119 minutes after abdominoplasty and 240 minutes after bunionectomy surgery.
“In our market research, onset of meaningful pain relief was identified by prescribers as a key attribute in a preferred pain management therapeutic,” Latigo said in the filing. “With competitor data showing that onset of meaningful pain relief after abdominoplasty occurred approximately two hours post-dose, we believe there is an opportunity to develop a treatment with a more appealing profile.”
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Latigo calls its next pain program, LTG-321, a next-generation NaV1.8 inhibitor. Structural differences from LTG-001 could enable this molecule to lower dosing and once-daily dosing — important features for a chronic medication. This drug is being developed for chronic musculoskeletal pain; osteoarthritis is the lead indication. A placebo-controlled Phase 2 study is underway in knee osteoarthritis; preliminary data are expected in the second half of 2027.
The pipeline also includes the preclinical program LTG-418, which the company says could offer substantially lower dosing than either of the more advanced Latigo programs. Lower dosing could expand Latigo’s reach in the pain market with dosing in the form of gels, patches, eye drops, inhalers, and injectables, the company said in the filing.
Latigo faces competition in the race to develop new non-opioid pain drugs. Besides Vertex, other companies with NaV1.8 drugs in development include Eli Lilly, through its 2025 acquisition of startup SiteOne Therapeutics, and AbbVie, which acquired rights to assets from Haisco Pharmaceutical Group in April. Grünenthal GmbH and Merck also have NaV1.8 inhibitors in early clinical development.
In its history as a private company, Latigo said it had raised $321.5 million. Its most recent financing was a $150 million Series B round last year. Westlake BioPartners is the largest shareholder with a 21.9% post-IPO stake, followed by Foresite Capital’s 15% stake, the filing shows.
As of the end of 2025, Latigo’s cash position was $69.4 million. That cash and the IPO proceeds will support Latigo’s pipeline. About $124.7 million is budgeted for bringing LTG-001 through the preliminary data readout from the Phase 3 bunionectomy study and an open-label safety study. The cash will also support preparations for a new drug application and commercialization plans. Another $46.2 million will support LTG-321 through the preliminary readout of a Phase 2 trial in osteoarthritis pain and the start of Phase 3 development. In the filing, Latigo said the capital won’t be enough to finance its programs all the way through Phase 3 testing, but it estimates the cash will last into the second half of 2028.
In preliminary financial terms set earlier in the week, Latigo aimed to offer 16 million shares in the range of $16 and $18 each. The company was able to increase the deal size to 19.2 million shares offered at the top of the targeted price range. Latigo shares began trading on the Nasdaq Friday under the stock symbol “LTGO.”
BlossomHill Therapeutics Blooms With $150M Nasdaq Debut
BlossomHill Therapeutics, a clinical-stage developer of small molecule drugs designed to overcome limitations of currently available cancer therapies, has $150 million from an IPO to support its pipeline.
San Diego-based BlossomHill has two lead programs. BH-30643 is a potential treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. This small molecule is designed to selectively inhibit mutant EGFR. While EGFR inhibitors are already available, no drug is effective across all EGFR mutations, BlossomHill said in its IPO filing. Furthermore, the durability of these drugs has been limited by the emergence of mutations. The company notes that the C797S mutation is the main acquired resistance mutation that cancers have developed to third-generation drugs in this class of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), including the blockbuster AstraZeneca product Tagrisso.
There are currently no FDA-approved drugs for the C797S mutation. BlossomHill says BH-30643 is designed to address a broad spectrum of EGFR mutations with greater selectivity to mutant EGFR versus non-mutated versions of the protein. A Phase 1/2 study is underway enrolling patients that have previously received a TKI as well as those who have not.
The other lead program is BH-30236, a CLK inhibitor in development for two blood cancers, relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia and higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes. This program is in Phase 1 testing, both as a monotherapy and in combination with the BCL2 inhibitor Venclexta, an AbbVie and Roche drug that is a standard treatment for certain blood cancers. BlossomHill also has a preclinical program, BH-501284, designed to selectively target and modulate activated KRAS.
BlossomHill is led by scientific founder and CEO J. Jean Cui, who was the lead inventor for three FDA-approved targeted cancer therapies, according to the filing. Cui was the co-founder of cancer drug biotech Turning Point Therapeutics, which Bristol Myers Squibb acquired in 2022 for $4.1 billion in 2022.
BlossomHill offered nearly 9.4 million shares priced at $16 each, raising $150 million. Those shares began trading on the Nasdaq Friday under the stock symbol “BLSM.” As of the end of the first quarter of this year, BlossomHill reported its cash position was $116 million. That capital and the IPO proceeds will support ongoing development of the pipeline. In the filing, BlossomHill said it plans to spend $70 million to continue Phase 1/2 testing of lead program BH-30643 and plan for a potential registrational Phase 2 clinical trial. Another $20 million is budgeted for clinical development of BH30236; $15 million will go toward advancing BH-501284 to the clinic. The company estimates its capital will last into the first quarter of 2028.
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