Shares of Monte Rosa Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GLUE) skyrocketed over 140% in pre-market trading on October 29th, driven by a massive $2.25 billion global licensing agreement with pharmaceutical giant Novartis.
Under the deal terms, Novartis gains exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Monte Rosa's lead drug program MRT-6160, an oral degrader of the VAV1 protein that regulates immune cell signaling. Novartis paid $150 million upfront and could pay up to $2.1 billion more in development, regulatory, and sales milestones. Monte Rosa will also receive tiered royalties on ex-U.S. net sales of any approved MRT-6160 products.
MRT-6160 is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers, with initial data expected in Q1 2025. If successful, the novel immune drug candidate could advance to mid-stage trials for autoimmune diseases like ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis, where modulating cytokine levels may provide therapeutic benefit.
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