Date: 2016-07-14
Type of information: Company acquisition
Acquired company: RedoxTherapies (USA - MA)
Acquiring company: Juno Therapeutics (USA - CA)
Amount: $10 million in cash and milestones
Terms: * On July 14, 2016, Juno Therapeutics announced that it has acquired RedoxTherapies. The acquisition provides Juno with an exclusive license to vipadenant, a small molecule adenosine A2a (A2a) receptor antagonist that has the potential to disrupt important immunosuppressive pathways in the tumor microenvironment in certain cancers. Juno intends to explore this molecule in combination with its engineered T cell platform and may over time explore it in other areas as well. In addition to vipadenant, with the transaction Juno has acquired proprietary know-how and intellectual property pertaining to the development of A2aR antagonists in combination with immuno-modulatory agents, such as the company’s engineered T cells. RedoxTherapies founder and adenosine biology pioneer Michail Sitkovsky, Ph.D. will become a scientific consultant to Juno. The upfront consideration for the RedoxTherapies acquisition was $10 million in cash. Redox is also eligible to receive payments upon the achievement of undisclosed clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
Details: RedoxTherapies is a privately held company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company intends to utilize A2 adenosine antagonists to re-activate the otherwise inhibited tumor-reactive T cells, which remain inhibited even after blockade of immunological checkpoint inhibitors. Inhibiting the adenosine pathway particularly through the blockade of A2a receptor signaling, has been shown in pre-clinical models to enhance the efficacy of adoptive T cell therapy, checkpoint inhibitors, and vaccines across a number of blood and solid organ cancers.
Redox Therapies is developing vipadenant, an orally bioavailable synthetic small molecule, potently and selectively blocks adenosine receptor mediated immunosuppression. Vipadenant was originally developed by Vernalis and the companies entered into a license agreement with in October 2014.
Related: Cancer - Oncology
