Merck acquires oncology spinout Modifi Biosciences in deal worth $1.3bn

Merck & Co – known as MSD outside the US and Canada – has acquired Yale University oncology spinout Modifi Biosciences in a deal worth $1.3bn. The agreement gives Merck access to preclinical compounds designed to exploit DNA repair defects in difficult-to-treat cancers, including glioblastomas. Modifi, formed in 2021, has developed a new class of small molecules that target cancer cells lacking expression of a key DNA repair protein called MGMT.Approximately half of all glioblastomas and up to 80% of gliomas lack MGMT, which Modifi says makes these cancers a “natural first target” for its approach. Emerging research has also indicated that this MGMT deficiency is seen in many other tumour types.Merck has acquired all outstanding shares of Modifi for $30m upfront, with Modifi shareholders eligible to receive potential milestone payments totalling up to $1.3bn. David Weinstock, vice president, discovery oncology, Merck Research Laboratories, said: “DNA repair defects are a frequent hallmark of tumour cells and a major cause of resistance to cancer therapy. The… Modifi Biosciences team has developed an innovative approach that we believe has potential for treating some of the most refractory cancer types.”Also commenting on the deal, Modifi’s co-founder, Ranjit Bindra, said: “In founding Modifi Biosciences, we sought to radically change the oncology treatment paradigm for cancer patients with glioblastoma and other tumours.“We are honoured to have Merck recognise the potential of our science, and as an oncology company, [it is] perfectly positioned to advance our innovations through clinical trials and commercialisation.” Read

In Other News

On October 24, Dyno Therapeutics announced the formation of a new strategic partnership with Roche to develop adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy vectors to target neurological diseases. The utilisation of AI is a key industry trend in the development of gene therapies in neurological disorders and could improve the vector properties and the delivery of gene therapies in the central nervous system (CNS). Read

Cirrhosis, hepatitis infection and other causes can trigger liver fibrosis—a potentially lethal stiffening of tissue that, once begun, is irreversible. For many patients, a liver transplant is their only hope. However, research at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles may offer patients a glimmer of hope. Scientists there say they've successfully reversed liver fibrosis in mice.Reporting in the journal Nature Communications, the team say they've discovered a genetic pathway that, if blocked, might bring fibrosis to a halt.The three genes involved in this fibrotic process are called FOXM1, MAT2A and MAT2B. Read

AI model predicts progression of breast cancer better than standard hospital tests, study claims: A team of AI and medical researchers at startup Ataraxis AI, who are also affiliated with a host of institutions across the U.S., has announced the development of an AI model that they claim is more accurate at predicting the progression rate of breast cancer than standard tests now administered in hospitals.The group has published a paper describing their model and outlining how well it has performed during testing on the arXivpreprint server. Read

Novartis’ Scemblix (asciminib) has been granted accelerated approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat a new subset of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) patients. The STAMP inhibitor has been authorised to treat adults with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML in the chronic phase (Ph-positive CML-CP), increasing the population eligible for the drug by approximately four times. Read

Emerging evidence links asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), a cardiovascular risk factor, to the development of neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders by compromising brain health. ADMA may disrupt blood-brain barrier (BBB) functions, though the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexamined. Read

Biogen and Neomorph have entered a research partnership aimed at discovering and developing molecular glue degraders for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological and immunological conditions. The partnership will leverage Neomorph’s molecular glue discovery platform to detect and validate new small molecule therapeutic molecular glue degraders. Read

Subcellular 'wearable' devices that wrap around neurons could measure and modulate electrical activity: Wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers interact with parts of our bodies to measure and learn from internal processes, such as our heart rate or sleep stages. Now, MIT researchers have developed wearable devices that may be able to perform similar functions for individual cells inside the body. These battery-free, subcellular-sized devices, made of a soft polymer, are designed to gently wrap around different parts of neurons, such as axons and dendrites, without damaging the cells, upon wireless actuation with light. By snugly wrapping neuronal processes, they could be used to measure or modulate a neuron's electrical and metabolic activity at a subcellular level. Read

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. Read

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