Merck is spending €115 million ($137 million) up front and up to €349 million in future payments to buy out German biotech Rigontec.
The Munich, Germany-based company is at work on accessing the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) pathway, part of the innate immune system, as a new approach in cancer immunotherapy.
The idea is to induce both immediate and long-term antitumor immunity; its leading candidate, RGT100, is in early clinical trials in patients with various tumors. More details on targets and financials were not given.
The early-stage company was founded back in 2014 as a spinout of the University Bonn in Germany, raising nearly €30 million in that time from a host of VCs, including Boehringer’s Venture Fund, Forbion Capital Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Wellington Partners Life Sciences and MP Healthcare Venture Management.
Though not on the scale of Gilead’s recent $11.9 billion buyout of CAR-T biotech Kite Pharma, Merck hopes this can add to its pipeline of cancer meds in a broader effort to shore up its future in I-O, coming after the commercial success of its checkpoint inhibitor Keytruda, which now has a series of FDA-approved uses across a number of cancers.
By Ben Adams
Source: Fierce Biotech
Novartis will acquire Mariana’s lead candidate MC-339, a radioligand therapy (RLT) designed to target small-cell lung cancer. Last year, Mariana had raised $175m in a Series B round from several funds and pharma giant Eli Lilly.
The company’s aspiration to expand the use of its obesity products to cardiovascular indications has been successful. In March, its blockbuster drug Wegovy was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases in obese or overweight adults.
Massachusetts-based Deciphera brings to the table an extensive kinase inhibitor pipeline, kinase drug discovery expertise, and a strong commercial and sales platform in the US and European markets that is meant to advance Ono’s capabilities and presence in the oncology space.
