Merck KGaA and C4 Therapeutics (C4T) have entered into a licence and collaboration agreement worth $756m to discover two targeted protein degraders against critical oncogenic proteins.
Oncogenic proteins, including p53, HER2 and integrin, are proteins that are encoded by oncogenes – dysregulated or activated genes – that have the potential to cause cancer.
In 2020, cancer was responsible for an estimated 18 million new cases worldwide, including the four most common global cancers: female breast, lung, bowel and prostate cancers.
As part of the deal, Merck KGaA will be responsible for the clinical development and commercialisation of drug candidates that are produced from these programmes, while C4T will utilise its Target-Oriented Protein Degrader Optimizer (TORPEDO) platform to discover degraders targeting critical oncogenic proteins.
Under the terms of the agreement, C4T will receive an upfront payment of $16m from Merck KGaA, which will also fund C4T’s discovery research efforts. C4T will have the potential to receive approximately $740m in discovery, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties on future sales for each programme.
C4T’s TORPEDO platform works by synthesising small degrader molecules to selectively and efficiently target disease-associated proteins and degrade them, improving the precision and effectiveness of degrader molecules.
The platform allows access to a significant proportion of possible target proteins that are ‘undruggable’ with existing strategies, allowing degraders to bind to any site on the targeted protein to initiate degradation of the target protein.
“We look forward to partnering with Merck KGaA… and leveraging our collective strengths to advance an exciting programme … that has the potential to transform how cancer is treated,” said Andrew Hirsch, president and chief executive officer, C4T.
Paul Lyne, head of research unit oncology, healthcare business sector, Merck KGaA, said: “We look forward to capitalising on C4T’s experience in advancing degrader candidates targeting disease-causing proteins from discovery to the clinical stage, with the shared goal of improving patient outcomes.”
In January this year, Merck KGaA announced it would be paying $45m upfront for licensing rights to Inspirna’s mid-stage colorectal cancer drug, ompenaclid (RGX-202), which is currently being evaluated in a phase 2 study as a second-line treatment of RAS-mutated advanced or metastatic colorectal cancer.