With a New Name Retrophin Charts Its Future as Travere Therapeutics

Rare Daily Staff

Rare disease drug developer Retrophin has changed its name to Travere Therapeutics, an effort to reflect its commitment to rare disease patients and shed its sometimes-rocky past.

With the name change, the company expects to begin trading under the new ticker symbol “TVTX” on the Nasdaq Global Select Market at market open on November 19, 2020.

The company had at one-time been led by now convicted fraudster Martin Shrekli, the so-called “Pharma bro” who had gained notoriety as CEO of Turing Pharmaceutical where he suddenly raised the price of a life-saving AIDS drug Daraprim to $750 from $13.50.

Retrophin and Shrekli filed dueling lawsuits against each other. Retrophin alleged he had breached his fiduciary duty as CEO and a board member. He alleged fraud on the part of the directors and former counsel of the company. The suits were settled for undisclosed terms in June 2019.

That was followed by the late-stage failure of its drug for the neurodegenerative condition PKAN. It’s stock subsequently fell to a 52-week low of $8.98.

Now, with its lead therapeutic candidate sparsentan, a treatment for rare kidney disorders, expected to have data from two separate late-stage studies in 2021 and other therapies advancing in clinical studies, the company has unveiled its new name and new tagline.

The company said the name Travere Therapeutics represents its commitment to being a trusted partner to patients and their communities as they face the ever-changing path of living with rare disease. Its new tagline, “In rare for life,” speaks to the company’s dedication to working with the rare disease community to make a positive impact on patients’ lives beyond delivering life-changing treatments.

“Over the last several years we have emboldened a patient-inspired mindset in all aspects of our organization, and championed our mission of identifying, developing and delivering life changing therapies to people living with rare disease,” said Eric Dube, CEO of Travere Therapeutics. “We developed this new name to reflect our commitment to forging new paths with patients to deliver hope and innovation, and to honor our remarkable evolution.”

Photo: Eric Dube, CEO of Travere Therapeutics