Roche, Atavistik Bio sign drug-discovery deal worth up to $2 billion

Sept 24 — Atavistik Bio said on Thursday it has ​signed a deal with Swiss drugmaker Roche potentially worth nearly $2 billion, including milestone payments, to develop ‌oral treatments for cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic diseases.

Here are some details:

• As ⁠part of the agreement, ​drug developer Atavistik will receive $70 ⁠million upfront and could get up to $1.9 billion ‌in research, development ‌and commercial milestone payments, plus royalties on sales ⁠of approved drugs, the privately ⁠held drug developer said.

• The partnership covers multiple drug targets and will use Atavistik's proprietary technology to find hidden pockets on disease-causing proteins, potentially allowing drugs to be developed against targets conventional methods have ‌struggled to reach with fewer unintended ​effects.

• Atavistik's ability to work on complex targets made the technology a good fit for Roche's drug-research unit, while potential treatments from the partnership could be used alone or alongside existing therapies to improve patient outcomes, Roche told Reuters.

• Atavistik will lead early ​discovery and research, while Roche will handle further lab ‌and human testing, ‌regulatory ⁠filings and commercialization, Atavistik said.

• Atavistik will continue to develop its own treatments for rare blood disorders, including for hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, which causes malformed blood vessels.

• ‌The companies did not ​disclose the number of targets ‌covered by the ⁠partnership or ​provide development timelines.

(Reporting by Kunal Das in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Pooja Desai)

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