Novartis pays $150m upfront for Monte Rosa degrader drug
The lengthening list of pharma alliances focused on molecular glue degraders has another entry after Novartis signed a deal with Monte Rosa Therapeutics worth up to $2.2 billion.
The partnership – which has seen a $150 million upfront payment from Novartis alongside a pledge for up to $2.1 billion in milestones – gives the Swiss pharma group rights to Monte Rosa's VAV1-directed molecular glue degrader programme.
Leading that programme is MRT-6160, which is currently in a placebo-controlled phase 1 study in healthy volunteers and is slated for development in immune-mediated conditions, which could include multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and dermatological disorders.
In lab studies, the orally active drug has been shown to degrade the VAV1 protein expressed in T- and B- cells. VAV1 is thought to be a signalling protein involved in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
By targeting VAV1, MRT-6160 attenuates various aspects of T- and B-cell function and inhibits disease progression in established in vivo models of autoimmunity, according to the biotech.
Novartis has exclusive rights to MRT-6160 and follow-up VAV1 degraders and will be responsible for development activities from phase 2 onwards, after Boston-based Monte Rosa completes its phase 1 programme, although, the biotech will co-fund phase 3 if the drug advances that far.
Molecular glue degraders are drugs that encourage two proteins that would not normally interact to stick together. Usually, the aim is to join disease-associated proteins with cellular components that cause them to be broken down and recycled.
A key characteristic is that they can target previously "undruggable" proteins that lack suitable binding pockets required for conventional drug activity – a property that has drawn intense interest from pharma companies and a string of licensing deals in the last few years.
Novartis' interest in Monte Rosa's platform follows a 2023 agreement between the biotech and Roche – which included a $50 million upfront payment and a total value of around $2 billion – focusing on cancer and neurological disease.
Meanwhile, Pfizer formed a $1.5 billion alliance with Triana Biomedicines earlier this month focusing on molecular glue degraders across multiple indications, including oncology, while in 2021 the pharma group also partnered with Arvinas on a degrader-based breast cancer candidate in a deal valued at more than $2 billion.
Other recent partnerships in the molecular glue degrader category include Takeda's recent $1 billion-plus link-up with Degron Therapeutics, a $1.46 billion deal between Novo Nordisk and Neomorph, a $2 billion agreement between Orionis and Roche, and MSD/Merck & Co's $2.55 billion deal with Proxygen.
Photo by Federico Di Dio photography on Unsplash
