Jazz Pharmaceuticals is acquiring Redx Pharma’s KRAS inhibitor program including preclinical-stage drug candidates, with the companies working to advance assets through IND-enabling studies.
Pictured: Two business professionals in suits shaking hands/iStock, fizkes
Jazz Pharmaceuticals is acquiring a KRAS inhibitor program from Redx Pharma in a deal potentially worth $880 million, the companies announced Wednesday.
Under the terms of the deal, Jazz will pay Redx $10 million upfront for the global rights and patents for Redx’s KRAS inhibitor program, which includes G12D selective and pan-KRAS molecules. Redx is also eligible to receive development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments from Jazz, which may total up to $870 million.
In addition, Redx is eligible “tiered, mid-single digit” percentage royalties based on any future net sales. Jazz will be responsible for all clinical development, regulatory work, manufacturing and commercialization.
In a separate agreement, Jazz will pay Redx an undisclosed amount for research and preclinical work to finish the IND-enabling studies for the KRAS program.
“Redx has discovered a number of preclinical KRAS candidates and we plan to leverage our collective oncology development expertise to identify and advance the most promising molecules toward the clinic,” Robert Iannone, Jazz’s global head of research and development, said in a statement. “This transaction further expands our early-stage oncology pipeline, and we are excited to explore novel approaches to improving treatment options for cancer patients.”
Redx CEO Lisa Anson said in a statement that the payment from the deal will extend its cash runway into 2025. The news of the deal also sent Redx’s stock price up on Wednesday morning, which spiked over 27% on the London Stock Exchange.
“This agreement will allow us to collaborate on the advancement of novel KRAS inhibitors and we look forward to supporting Jazz in progressing these candidates through IND-enabling studies. Partnerships remain a key pillar of our corporate strategy, allowing us to advance what we believe are differentiated molecules in areas of high unmet need, while also creating long-term shareholder value through non-dilutive funding,” Anson said.
The two companies have also been collaborating on JZP815, a pan-RAF inhibitor candidate, which Jazz acquired in 2019. In 2022, the IND application for JZP815 was accepted by the FDA.
The latest deal with Redx comes as Jazz looks to compete with Amgen’s Lumakras and Mirati Therapeutics’ Krazati, two KRAS drugs that target G12C-mutated cancer. While Amgen and Mirati are widely viewed as frontrunners to win the first front line approval in KRAS-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, analysts—and competitors—say the field is still wide open.
“KRAS is a well-validated oncology target and there remains a high unmet need for innovation in this area based on challenges in developing molecules to target specific KRAS mutations,” Iannone said.
Tyler Patchen is a staff writer at BioSpace. You can reach him at tyler.patchen@biospace.com. Follow him on LinkedIn.
