Our Story and the Taran Name...

In early 2024, Taran Therapeutics, a private Delaware C-corp, acquired the assets of Humanigen, Inc., A NASDAQ-listed company, in a 363 bankruptcy sale overseen by the court in Delaware and Judge Brendon Shannon, who signed off on the sale.

 

Until 2017, the company had been named KaloBios and had pursued development of Lenzilumab (LENZ), a monoclonal antibody, as a therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and CMML. Under a subsequent leadership change, Humanigen developed LENZ as a companion therapy to CAR-T and conducted clinical work in partnership with Kite/Gilead, as well as pivoting to a treatment for hospitalized patients with COVID during the pandemic. Despite promising data from two trials in COVID, each with more than 500 patients and including one trial entirely funded and managed by the NIH, LENZ did not receive Emergency Use Authorization in COVID and Humanigen could not continue as a going concern.

 

Taran now owns all rights to three drugs, including LENZ and IFAB, promising monoclonal antibodies with clinical data, including, in the case of LENZ a Phase 2/3 clinical trial. It is anticipated that a single confirmatory Phase 3 trial may, if successful, lead to an approval in one or more countries for LENZ.  IFAB shows potential promise as part of unique Antibody-Drug Conjugates, used for the treatment of solid tumors and has also completed a clinical trial. 

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Thanks to the investments already made under the prior ownership, LENZ now has a well-established and excellent safety profile and clinical development investments have totaled more than $300 million.  In addition, extensive Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) work was completed and inventory manufactured at a cost of approximately $200 million and clinical, safety and tolerability data in more than 700 patients . 

 

In addition, Taran acquired one other monoclonal antibody which is also targeted for partnering or  divestment. Taran provides an unusual opportunity with a late-stage, rigorously tested monoclonal antibody (LENZ) could take multiple myeloid disorders in large markets with little or no competition that is as advanced, and has already incurred more than $500 million R+D costs to date. 

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The Founder’s wife, a proudly Welsh woman, bred a beautiful male Welsh cob foal. He was born during a thunderstorm. The Welsh word for thunder is Taran and so she named him Taran.

The choice of Taran for the company name honors her memory, the tragic loss of an extraordinary woman, as well as the beauty, pride and strength of the Welsh people and language and the physical and mythical power of thunder as an unstoppable force - just as the horse turned out to be, as she was and as the company intends to be.