Antares Therapeutics on Wednesday entered into a strategic collaboration with Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) aimed at discovering, developing, and commercializing small-molecule therapies targeting historically difficult-to-drug cancer targets.
The agreement could generate up to $1.9 billion for Antares, including upfront and milestone payments.
Antares To Receive $105 Million Upfront
Under the terms of the deal, Antares will receive an upfront payment of $105 million. The biotechnology company is also eligible for as much as $1.8 billion in additional payments tied to option exercises, development, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
The agreement also provides for tiered royalties on global net sales that could reach the low double-digit percentage range.
Antares will oversee research activities and deploy its proprietary discovery platform against a limited number of historically undruggable oncology targets until Novartis exercises its options.
The company said it will continue advancing both its wholly owned and partnered portfolio of precision medicines focused on cancer and other serious diseases alongside the collaboration.
CEO Says Partnership Expands Discovery Engine
Adam Friedman, Antares’ chief executive officer, said the company built its discovery engine with the goal of systematically unlocking challenging, high-value targets and developing first-in-class precision medicines.
According to Friedman, the collaboration with Novartis enables Antares to expand the reach of that platform while leveraging Novartis’ development expertise and global commercial capabilities.
He added that the partnership could help accelerate the translation of Antares’ scientific discoveries into therapies for patients while building on the company’s track record of producing highly selective medicines against difficult drug targets.
Companies Combine Complementary Capabilities
The collaboration brings together Antares’ expertise in covalent drug discovery with Novartis’ research and development infrastructure.
Antares said its platform includes proprietary screening libraries, chemical proteomics capabilities, structure-driven computational chemistry, and a machine-learning suite designed to identify promising first-in-class targets.
In March, Novartis agreed to acquire Excellergy Inc., a private biotech company developing next-generation anti-IgE therapies for IgE-driven diseases, for up to $2 billion in upfront and milestone payments.
The European drugmaker also strengthened its breast cancer pipeline with the Synnovation Therapeutics deal worth $3 billion.
NVS Price Action: Novartis shares were down 0.25% at $152.99 at the time of publication on Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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