Two days after Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc. signed a molecular glue degrader deal with Novartis AG, two other companies, Biogen Inc. and Neomorph Inc., are moving forward in the same space in a partnership worth up to $1.45 billion. Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen and San Diego-based Neomorph will develop molecular glue degraders (MGDs) for priority targets in Alzheimer’s, rare neurological and immunological diseases, using Neomorph’s MGD platform to identify and validate novel small-molecule protein degraders.
With another failure of E-selectin antagonist uproleselan on the books, Glycomimetics Inc. signed an acquisition agreement with privately held, solid tumor-focused Crescent Biopharma Inc., and a syndicate of investors has put up $200 million to make the merger possible. The combined firm will operate under Crescent’s name after the deal closes in the second quarter of 2025, subject to shareholders’ go-ahead.
An old target that found new life at Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc. has become the subject of a sizeable deal between the company and Novartis AG, as the pair set about developing molecular glue degraders (MGDs). Shares of Monte Rosa (NASDAQ:GLUE) closed Oct. 28 at $9.48, up $4.59, or 93.9%, on word of the Boston-based firm’s deal with Novartis to advance VAV1 MGDs, including MRT-6160, a prospect undergoing a phase I single ascending dose/multiple ascending dose study in healthy volunteers for immune-mediated conditions.
After missing out on the glucagon-like peptide 1 obesity market, Sanofi SA is prospecting for next-generation drugs and is making a strategic equity investment in Resalis Therapeutics Srl, providing the Italian biotech with funding to take its lead program RES-010 through to phase II.
Only three years after it was co-founded by Johnson & Johnson, Aliada Therapeutics Inc. is being acquired by Abbvie Inc. in a deal valued at $1.4 billion that gives the big pharma firm another shot at the Alzheimer’s disease space. The all-cash deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, will give Abbvie access to Aliada’s blood-brain barrier-crossing Modular Delivery, or MODEL, as well as rights to ALIA-1758, an anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta antibody designed using MODEL, which is in phase I testing for Alzheimer’s disease.
Biopharma deals and M&A activity in 2024 continued to surge past the last two years, with deal value in the first three quarters jumping 14.5% year-over-year. The total climbed from $130.38 billion through 3Q23 to an impressive $149.24 billion so far in 2024, the highest value in the first nine months of a year, according to BioWorld’s records. Q3 alone saw $49.81 billion in deals, following a strong Q2 at $55.26 billion. Meanwhile, M&As skyrocketed 75.5% in 2024, hitting $98.02 billion, up from $55.82 billion during the first nine months of last year.
Privately held Dyno Therapeutics Inc. has added another notch to its adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors development portfolio in a deal with the Roche Group that includes $50 million up front and ultimately could top $1 billion. Dyno will help in developing next-generation AAV vectors, optimized by artificial intelligence, to target neurological diseases.
Modifi Biosciences Inc. has come a long way very quickly. Spun out of Yale University in 2021, it published data on DNA in Science in July 2022, and now it’s being acquired by Merck & Co. Inc. for $30 million up front. Ultimately, Modifi shareholders could receive milestones of up to $1.3 billion.
Cureverse Inc. and Angelini Pharma SpA signed a potential $360 million deal for CV-01, an oral small-molecule candidate for Alzheimer’s disease and neurological disorders like epilepsy. As a novel candidate, CV-01 suppresses neuroinflammatory reactions through the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor signaling pathway.
H. Lundbeck A/S is to acquire Longboard Pharmaceuticals Inc. in an all-cash deal valuing the epilepsy specialist at $2.6 billion. The agreed price of $60 per share is a 54% premium to the closing price of Longboard stock (NASDAQ:LBPH) on Oct. 11 and represents the biggest deal in Lundbeck’s 110-year history. The acquisition will give the Copenhagen, Denmark-based pharma company ownership of bexicaserin, which in September entered phase III development in Dravet syndrome. The 5-HT2C agonist has the potential to treat this and other rare developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, for most of which there are no approved therapies.
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