Who would have predicted that one of the hottest trends for beleaguered biotechs in 2025 would be to rebrand as a crypto company?
Leap Therapeutics has became the latest drug developer to make the move, transforming this morning into Cypherpunk Technologies and focusing on its hoard of $50 million worth of a digital currency called ZEC.
Leap’s original strategy of developing the anti-DKK1 antibody sirexatamab for a range of cancers appeared to grind to a halt in June, when the biotech laid off about three-quarters of its workforce in order to conserve its remaining cash.
At the time, Leap said it was “exploring strategic alternatives,” including a potential sale or partnership for both sirexatamab and FL-501, a GDF-15 neutralizing antibody in preclinical development for a wasting syndrome.
The biotech used that release to point to a “positive trend” for overall response rates in the phase 2 study of sirexatamab in colorectal cancer (CRC) but blamed “current market conditions” for having to wind down the clinical program.
By October, Leap’s future was starting to take shape, with the promise of a $58 million private investment from Winklevoss Capital—a tech investor created by the Winklevoss brothers, who also co-founded the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini—to “initiate a digital asset treasury strategy.”
With Winklevoss’ oversight, the idea is to “build long-term shareholder value through active participation in digital assets” while still using a “portion of the capital … to continue development of Leap's therapeutic programs, including FL-501 and sirexatamab.”
Leap clearly still had an eye on sirexatamab just this October. At that point, CEO Douglas Onsi pointed to the objective response rate of 38% for the drug in combination with Avastin in a phase 2 CRC study, saying targeting DKK1 “provides deep and durable benefit for patients in desperate need of new therapies.”
Onsi reaffirmed that Leap would use money from the Winklevoss financing “to engage with regulatory authorities over the registrational path for sirexatamab in CRC and to optimize the DKK1 biomarker diagnostic test that could be used to identify these CRC patients with poor prognosis.”
This morning’s announcement of the rebrand to Cypherpunk does include a single reference to sirexatamab, but the focus is now very much on the ZEC coin, for which the company spent $50 million of the $58.8 million private placement.
Along with the rebrand—which will see the company’s Nasdaq ticker switch from "LPTX" to "CYPH"—digital market investor Khing Oei will replace Leap’s Christopher Mirabelli, Ph.D., as chair of the company’s board. Meanwhile, Will McEvoy, a principal at Winklevoss Capital, will step into the newly created role of chief investment officer.
“We are pleased to welcome Khing and Will to the board of directors, and to have Will serve as chief investment officer as we advance our strategy to create long-term shareholder value through active participation in Zcash,” Onsi said in the release.
“Participant control and privacy, enabled by Zcash, are critical as financial transactions move increasingly to blockchain and tokenization,” Onsi added. “The rebranding and new leadership appointments mark a transformational step in expanding our mission as we enter a new phase of growth.”
The pivot from bio to crypto may seem like a screeching handbrake turn, but Leap is not the first drug developer to make this transition.
September saw MEI Pharma—previously best known for its investigational leukemia drug—rebrand as Lite Strategy to reflect its decision to invest in more than $100 million worth of a cryptocurrency called Litecoin.
Meanwhile, Conduit Pharmaceuticals, Propanc Biopharma and MAIA Biotechnology have all looked into stockpiling various types of digital currencies in recent months.