Armgo Pharma is making a fresh start this new year, as the Boston-based biotech announced Tuesday that it will henceforth be known as RyCarma Therapeutics.
The new name draws from the company’s nearly two decades of work in ryanodine receptor (RyR) biology, which it has used to develop a new class of small-molecule drugs dubbed Rycals, with the help of RyR technology licensed exclusively from Columbia University and stemming from the research of RyCarma founder Andrew Marks, M.D.
Alongside the rebrand, RyCarma also unveiled a new pipeline program to develop its lead candidate, ARM210, in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. If ultimately approved, per the company, it stands to become the first heart failure therapy that not only improves heart function but also addresses the common symptom of skeletal muscle weakness.
ARM210 is also being tested in the much rarer setting of ryanodine receptor 1-related myopathies (RYR1-RM), which comprise neuromuscular diseases caused by mutations in the RYR1 gene.
In another set of changes for the biotech, RyCarma also named a handful of new executives, including the appointments of CEO Adam Rosenberg and of Jonathan Alspaugh and Sanjay Jalota to serve as chief strategy officer and senior vice president of regulatory, respectively.
Marks said in a statement that he was “thrilled” with the new direction of the company he founded in 2004.
“The past decade has seen an incredible convergence of structural, genetic and physiological data on RyR biology," he added. "RyCarma is at the forefront of advancing therapeutics that target RyR to treat serious and devastating diseases like RYR1-RM and heart failure."
RyCarma has previously dabbled in applying its Rycals to cardiac conditions: In its early days, one candidate reached phase 2 trials in heart failure and arrhythmias before being scrapped in favor of a focus on neuromuscular disorders.
In 2021, the company then known as Armgo brought in $35 million from Forbion and other VC backers that it said would be used to test ARM210 in a phase 2 trial of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, a rare inherited cardiovascular disease that’s characterized by abnormal heart rhythm. At the time, the biotech pitched ARM210 as a potential “pipeline-in-a-product.”
As of this week, however, only the heart failure and RYR1-RM programs are listed as ARM210’s ongoing projects on RyCarma’s site.
Editor's note: This story was updated to correct a mention of Armgo's founding year. It was founded in 2004, not 2006.