Ipsen Secures $1.2bn Deal To Boost T Cell Research with Marengo
Ipsen and Marengo's $1.6B partnership advances precision immuno-oncology drugs, starting with a TCR Vβ activator for solid tumors in Phase I studies.
Breaking News
Jun 13, 2024
Mrudula Kulkarni
Ipsen and Marengo formed a $1.6
billion partnership in 2022 to proceed with two precision immuno-oncology
candidates from Marengo’s SSelective T-Cell Activation Repertoire (STAR)
platform.The TriSTAR targets tumours that are quite unlikely to respond to
immunotherapy. On the other hand, the STAR platform improves antibodies with T
cell costimulatory signals in order to boost the immune response in tumours
that are likely to respond to immunotherapy and exhibit high T cell activity.
In April, the announcement was made
about the development of the first drug candidate from this initial phase of
collaboration. This is the new TCR Vβ bifunctional selective T cell activator
molecule aimed at treating solid tumours.Both the companies together plan to
file an IND (Investigational New Drug) application for this unnamed drug to the
US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) with an objective of initiating a Phase
I study.
Zhen Su, CEO of Marengo said “This
new collaboration with Ipsen builds on our clinically validated TCR Vβ platform
and our internal work with new TriSTAR T cell engagers that suggest
best-in-class potential and the ultimate precision immuno-oncology goal of
delivering the right T cells to the right tumour.”This partnership comes after
a recent exclusive global collaboration Of Ipsen’s with Skyhawk Therapeutics,
aimed at discovering and developing new small molecules to modulate RNA for the
treatment of rare neurological disorders, in a deal which is valued at $1.8
billion.