Big Pharma is sticking to the recent molecular glue investment trend, with Pfizer now the latest major drugmaker to get in on the action.
Pfizer is laying out $49 million upfront in a partnership and licensing pact with Massachusetts-based Triana Biomedicines to discover molecular glue degraders for cancer and other conditions.
Under the deal, which will see Triana leverage its target- and proximity-first molecular glue discovery platform, the privately held biotech is in line to receive potential milestones in excess of $1.5 billion, plus tiered royalties.
Triana will lead the charge on discovery and identification of potential development candidates, with Pfizer holding the option for an exclusive license to advance the prospects into preclinical and clinical development, Triana said in a release Tuesday.
Triana did not lay out specific targets beyond “several disease areas, including oncology.”
"We are thrilled to partner with Pfizer to create potentially transformative medicines for disease targets with critical unmet needs, leveraging our molecular glue and E3-ligase pairing platform,” Patrick Trojer, Ph.D., Triana’s CEO, said in a statement. "This collaboration agreement signifies an important milestone in the evolution of Triana, as the company advances towards delivering on its product focused strategy."
Molecular glues are small molecules used to stabilize the interaction between two proteins that traditionally don’t play well with each other. The field has witnessed an outpouring of financial interest from large pharmaceutical firms in recent years, inspiring deals from the likes of Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck & Co., Roche and others.
In late May, Takeda put together a deal worth up to $1.2 billion with Degron Therapeutics to find new glue candidates in oncology, neuroscience and inflammation.
About three months before that, Novo Nordisk in February linked up with California’s Neomorph in its own $1.46 billion accord to discover, develop and commercialize glue degraders against a range of unnamed targets.
Last year, Roche and its Genentech unit stuck together back-to-back molecular glue deals with Monte Rosa Therapeutics and Orionis Biosciences for $50 million upfront and $47 million upfront, respectively.
Plus, Merck & Co. in December laid out $10 million to form an exclusive degrader-antibody conjugate (DAC) with C4 Therapeutics in a deal that could ultimately reach $2.5 billion if Merck chooses to license additional DACs.