How Kyverna is positioned for success on autoimmune therapy: CEO

J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley have initiated coverage of the biotech company Kyverna Therapeutics (KYTX), giving the company an Overweight rating. The company recently went public and began building its clinical trial program to fight autoimmune diseases.

Kyverna CEO Dr. Peter Maag joins Yahoo Finance to discuss its research into CAR-T cell therapy for autoimmune indications, which affect "many, many patients."

Maag elaborates on the company's cash runway to continue research following the IPO: "We started the IPO wanting to maybe raise about $200 million. We got such a response, we were continuously upgrading and upsizing the offering, and ended up with more than $300 million raised, which was phenomenal. Most important, we also got very, very important investors into the story, which was a tremendous success. That allows us really to have a runway until 2026 and being able to execute against this clinical trial opportunity that we have in front of us. So we are very well capitalized for what we need to do in order to demonstrate the power of technology in autoimmune disease."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.

Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video transcript

JULIE HYMAN: Well, Kyverna Therapeutics, the Gilead-backed biotech company, going public last month and building its clinical trial program to fight autoimmune diseases. JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley both recently initiated coverage on the company earlier this week, and both rating the stock an overweight.

For more, we're bringing in Kyverna's CEO Dr. Peter Maag. Thank you so much for being here, Dr. Maag. Appreciate it. So as we look at what Kyverna is trying to build here, you guys are building on platforms of called CAR T therapies, which use the body's T cells to improve different health outcomes. But as I understand it, you're looking at a new treatment area, more in autoimmune diseases than in cancer, which is where these therapies have been used in the past. So for folks who aren't familiar, give us a sort of brief layman's overview if you would.

PETER MAAG: Well, this is an incredible new technology that will revolutionize medicine in the next 30 years. We have had early examples in cancers, where this technology has transformed people's lives. And now we at Kyverna are bringing this cell therapy technology to the patients in autoimmune disease. And you can probably appreciate, there are so many more patients in autoimmune disease than in cancers, that this is a tremendous opportunity that we execute against.

It's about 8% to 10% of all Americans suffer from some form of autoimmune disease. So in a way, this technology that has been revolutionizing some blood cancers is now able to go prime time for a very large patient population in autoimmune disease.

JOHS LIPTON: And, Peter, for investors who are listening right now, you know, any kind of approvals or regulatory milestones that are coming up here they should be aware of?

PETER MAAG: We are still very early in the technology. So we are-- I would call it, we're at this experimental stage. We have executed against some of our phase I trials and early efforts. But now we already got the FDA approval to move into a phase II trial with myasthenia gravis and phase II trial in multiple sclerosis. And these are very, very large indications with many, many patients that would potentially benefit from this technology, cell therapy in autoimmune disease.

So as we have moved into phase II, I think everybody looks at Kyverna and says, wow, they're in a leadership position in a very new technology.

JULIE HYMAN: Dr. Maag, as we look through the filings ahead of the IPO, one of the things that-- there was an item in there, talk about the concern about the run rate, the cash run rate late last year. Now that you've done the IPO, obviously you have raised more cash to fund this research. How much runway does that give you?

PETER MAAG: It's a tremendous run rate. We started the IPO wanting to maybe raise about $200 million. We got such a response, we were continuously upgrading and upsizing the offering and ended up with more than $300 million raised, which was phenomenal.

Most important, we also got very, very important investors into the story, which was tremendous, tremendous success. And that allows us really to have a runway until 2026, and so being able to execute against this clinical trial opportunity that we have in front of us. So we're very well capitalized for what we need to do in order to demonstrate the power of technology in autoimmune disease.

JOHS LIPTON: You do have competition, Peter. So I'm just wondering how do you think about your company's kind of competitive positioning.

PETER MAAG: It has taken us five years to become that overnight success. So Kyverna was very early in the process, seeing the opportunity already the last five years. And since then, we have had some data that others are looking at, which we see a huge validation of the entire story.

CAR-T cell therapy in autoimmune disease has become a big buzzword right now. And Kyverna is at the forefront. We see this as validation, but we're also reasonably competitive. So we'd like-- we like being in the pole position, and we'd like to be there. So we feel comfortable where we are right now.

But think about this opportunity of being a very large opportunity. It's unlikely that this will be only realized by one single company. So the tide will rise all boats in that sense. And we think that others will be there as well and will actually allow us to make this a great, great success with more patients having access to that technology.

JULIE HYMAN: We've seen an uptick in M&A activity, within biotechs, particularly with some of these new experimental areas. Does it make sense for Kyverna to be part of a bigger company?

PETER MAAG: You know, I'm a company builder. In that sense, we have that tremendous opportunity. CAR-T cell therapy is in an early stage. And we think as a smaller company based here in Silicon Valley and in this Bay Area ecosystem, we can actually help to move this technology along and see what is the application. We feel actually very comfortable having relationships with the top centers in the world. And this relationship will elevate our clinical trial program.

So no need to be worried about right now. Kyverna is being able to execute against its clinical trial programs.

JOHS LIPTON: Peter, thank you so much for joining us today on the show. Really appreciate it.

PETER MAAG: Thank you so much.