NEW YORK – Roche and Repare Therapeutics on Wednesday announced a global license agreement to develop and market Repare's ATR inhibitor camonsertib as a treatment for tumors with synthetic-lethal genomic alterations.
In the deal, Roche will pay Repare $125 million upfront, and Repare is eligible to receive $1.2 billion in additional clinical, regulatory, commercial, and sales milestone payments. The deal also includes $55 million in possible near-term payments and royalties on global net sales ranging from high-single digits to high-teens.
Rapare also has the option to pursue a 50/50 codevelopment and profit-sharing arrangement with Roche, including copromoting the product in the US upon regulatory approval. If Repare opts into this arrangement, it will still be eligible for certain milestones and ex-US royalties on drug sales.
Montreal-based Repare developed camonsertib based on SNIPRx, a genome-wide CRISPR-based screening platform that uses isogenic cell lines to flag synthetic lethal alterations that can be targeted using its treatments. The company then applies that information to rationally design trials for its drugs, in which patients with those specific genomic aberrations are enrolled.
Using this strategy, Repare is studying camonsertib in the Phase I/II TRESR (Treatment Enabled by SNIPRx) trial in solid tumors with synthetic-lethal genomic alterations in ATM, ATRIP, BRCA1, BRCA2, CHEK2, CDK12, CHTF8, FZR1, MRE11, NBN, PALB2, RAD17, RAD50, RAD51B/C/D, REV3L, RNASEH2A/B, and SETD. Earlier this year, the company presented safety and tolerability data establishing the agent's recommended Phase II dose and common toxicities.
Under the latest collaboration, Roche will take up the development of camonsertib and may further explore the drug's activity in different kinds of tumors and in combination with other drugs. The collaboration enables Roche to expand its precision oncology pipeline into the DNA damage repair space.
"Roche is excited about the emerging DNA damage response field, which represents a promising new approach to precision oncology," James Sabry, Roche's global head of pharma partnering, said in a statement. "The collaboration with Repare builds on Roche's strategy of personalized healthcare and further strengthens our leadership in oncology."
In afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, Repare's stock price was up more than 40 percent at $12.30.