Pfizer and Triana Biomedicines have entered into a strategic collaboration and licensing agreement worth over $1.5bn to discover molecular glue degraders (MGDs) for cancer and other severe diseases.
MGDs are a new class of drugs that can be directed at targets that have previously been considered ‘undruggable’ by other approaches.
The partnership will leverage Triana’s molecular glue and E3-ligase pairing platform to identify new MGDs against multiple targets across various disease areas, including oncology.
Triana will lead the discovery and identification of potential development candidates, while Pfizer will have the option for an exclusive license to pursue further preclinical and clinical development.
In exchange, Triana will receive an upfront payment of $49m from Pfizer and will be eligible for potential future milestone payments exceeding $1.5bn, as well as tiered royalties.
Jeff Settleman, chief scientific officer of Pfizer Oncology, said: “We look forward to working together to advance scientific innovation for patients living with cancer.”
Triana’s president and chief executive officer, Patrick Trojer, added that the company is “thrilled to partner with Pfizer to create potentially transformative medicines for disease targets with critical unmet needs”.
Drugmakers have been increasingly focused on MGDs, which eliminate disease-causing proteins by promoting their interaction with the cell’s ubiquitin-proteasome system.
In August, Eisai
partnered
with SEED Therapeutics to develop MGDs for multiple undisclosed neurodegeneration and oncology targets. The alliance, worth up to $1.5bn, will see SEED lead preclinical discovery activities for the selected targets, including E3 ligase selection and identification of appropriate MGDs. Eisai will then have exclusive rights to develop and commercialise any resulting compounds.
Takeda
entered
the MGD field in May with its $1.2bn partnership with Degron Therapeutics for targets in oncology, neuroscience and inflammation, while Novo Nordisk
entered
into a $1.46bn collaboration and licensing agreement with Neomorph in February to develop MGDs for cardiometabolic and rare diseases.
Other recent MGD-centred deals include Roche’s agreement with Monte Rosa Therapeutics and Merck & Co’s – known as MSD outside the US and Canada – multi-year collaboration with Proxygen.
