The centerpiece of the acquisition is Myricx Bio’s novel N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor payload platform, which could help Novartis develop antibody-drug conjugates that can overcome the limitations of existing therapies.
Novartis is betting up to $1.5 billion to absorb Myricx Bio and its pipeline of novel antibody-drug conjugates, adding to the pharma’s recent pick-ups in the cancer arena.
Under the terms of the deal, Novartis is fronting $1.1 billion and putting up to $400 million on the line in undisclosed potential milestones, according to a Monday morning release. The companies expect the transaction to close in the second half of this year.
For its investment, Novartis will get Myricx’s two lead antibody-drug conjugate programs. Not much has been disclosed about these candidates yet, with the biotech on its website revealing only that one targets the B7-H3 checkpoint protein while the other binds to the HER2 growth factor. Both are known to be highly expressed in cancers.
In addition to the two ADCs, Novartis will acquire Myricx’s payload platform, which generates “a new class” of ADCs that carry N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) inhibitors, as per the announcement. These payloads work by targeting the NMT enzyme, which helps maintain the function of certain proteins inside cells. In cancer, NMT plays a role in how malignant cells grow and survive.
Myricx’s NMT inhibitor payloads “disrupt critical processes that cancer cells rely on,” Novartis explained on Monday, adding that they have the “potential to address limitations of commonly used” classes of payloads, such as TOPO-1 inhibitors, against which some cancers have developed resistance.
The NMT inhibitor platform “could broaden the use of ADCs across multiple tumor settings,” Fiona Marshall, president of Biomedical Research at Novartis, said in a statement. If clinically validated, the pharma sees NMT inhibitors marking a new class of ADC payloads.
Novartis has made a few big-ticket cancer deals recently. Last month, for example, the pharma put down $105 million upfront to partner with Antares Therapeutics to advance novel therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers. This agreement, which includes up to $1.8 billion in milestones, will leverage Antares’ small-molecule engine, which makes use of covalent drug design, proteomics, structure-driven calculations and machine learning.
In March, Novartis shelled out $2 billion to buy Synnovation Therapeutics’ subsidiary Pikavation Therapeutics, which owns the PI3Kα inhibitor SNV4818. The drug is an orally available breast cancer therapy in Phase 1/2 development that specifically targets the mutated from of PI3Kα while avoiding healthy versions of the protein.
Novartis has also been an active dealmaker outside of cancer. Last month, the company deepened its existing engagement with Orionis Biosciences, betting up to $1.4 billion in a molecular glue–centered deal targeting several therapeutic areas. And in March, the pharma swallowed Excellergy for up to $2 billion, gaining an anti-IgE therapy for allergic conditions.
