The acquisition was featured Monday in Roche’s Pharma Day presentation, which also included projections of more than $3 billion in annual sales from three early-stage obesity and diabetes drugs.
A portfolio of CDK inhibitors developed by Regor Pharmaceuticals has found a home at Roche, which announced Monday it would buy the investigational cancer drugs for $850 million upfront.
Cambridge, Mass.– and China-based Regor will see two ongoing Phase I trials of CDK4 inhibitor RGT-419B through to their completion, at which time Roche’s Genentech subsidiary will take over global clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization of this asset. The deal also includes additional CDK4 inhibitors for cancer.
Last December, Regor announced results from a Phase Ia trial of RGT-419B, showing that the drug was safe and well tolerated in patients with HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer who have progressed on CDK4/6 inhibitors and endocrine therapy. “Monotherapy clinical efficacy” was also observed, Regor reported.
The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, includes the potential for Regor to claim additional cash payments based on the achievement of predetermined development, regulatory and commercial milestones.
“Genentech is well-positioned to bring these novel therapeutics to their full potential to benefit patients with breast cancer around the world,” Xiayang Qiu, founder and CEO of Regor, said in a statement.
Indeed, Roche currently markets three treatments for breast cancer: Perjeta, Kadcyla and Phesgo, which generated a combined $4.38 billion during the first half of this year. Perjeta was Roche’s third-top-selling drug in the first half. The company has a Nov. 27 PDUFA date for a fourth drug, inavolisib, for which it is seeking approval in first-line PIK3CA-mutated hormone receptor positive breast cancer.
During Roche’s Pharma Day presentation in London Monday morning, CEO Teresa Graham called the Regor additions a “perfect fit” with the company’s breast cancer franchise, Endpoints News reported.
In a second deal, Roche picked up Wnt signaling biotech AntlerA, gaining possession of a library of anti-FZD/LRP drug candidates. Roche is envisioning AntlerA’s lead preclinical asset as a “potential best-in-class treatment” for neovascular age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema, according to Fierce Biotech. Financials were not disclosed.
Another recent acquisition was in the spotlight at Roche’s Pharma Day as the company said three early-stage obesity and diabetes drug candidates stemming from its $2.7 billion buyout of Carmot Therapeutics could bring in more than $3.6 billion in annual sales. The revenue projection specifically pertains to investigational weight-loss treatment CT-388, oral GLP-1 analog CT-996 and diabetes drug CT-868, according to Reuters.
In May, Roche unveiled Phase Ib data showing that CT-388 could significantly lower body weight in healthy adults with obesity. Then, in July, it announced topline data from an ongoing Phase I study showing that CT-996 could elicit “clinically meaningful” weight loss in patients with obesity but without type 2 diabetes.
