NEW YORK – Mosaic Therapeutics on Thursday said it has licensed two clinical-stage oncology programs from Astex Pharmaceuticals, which also has taken an equity stake in the firm.
Mosaic will gain the rights to ASTX029, an ERK1/2 inhibitor that has completed a Phase II clinical study in solid tumors with MAPK alterations, and ASTX295 an MDM2 antagonist that has completed a Phase I trial for TP53 wild-type solid tumors. Using its platform that identifies combinations of oncology drugs predicted to have synergistic activity, Cambridge, UK-based Mosaic's development strategy is to identify biomarker-defined combination treatment opportunities of these assets across tumor types.
In connection with the licensing agreement, Astex took a 19 percent equity stake in Mosaic and may take an additional 3 percent stake dependent on whether Mosaic meets certain clinical milestones. Astex, which is a subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical also located in Cambridge, will be eligible to receive future revenue shares on commercialized products. Astex President and CEO Harren Jhoti will also take an observer role on Mosaic's board. The firms didn't disclose other financial details of the deal.
"Mosaic's mission is to bring novel targeted combination medicines to patients who need them," Edward Hodgkin, managing partner at Syncona Investment Management and chair of Mosaic, said in a statement. "The in-licensing of these two clinical-stage assets provides a step change in our development pipeline, allowing Mosaic to progress targeted drug combinations in novel biomarker-defined settings and enabling the delivery of precision medicines for patients who currently have few therapeutic options."
Hodgkin added that the firm expects to begin the first clinical combination treatment study based on these drugs in 2026.