Regeneron has announced that it will acquire Checkmate Pharmaceuticals in a proposed deal of around $250m.
Checkmate is a clinical stage biotech company, focused on developing its technologies to use the power of human immune systems against cancer.
As part of the acquisition, Regeneron will take on Checkmate’s lead investigational candidate, vidutolimod, an investigational immune activator which has the potential to be used in multiple types of tumour.
Vidutolimod is administered into the tumour and is thought to activate and spread anti-tumour T cells and initiate tumour regression as a monotherapy in patients whose tumours previously advanced on PD-1 checkpoint inhibition.
It works by pairing two complementary mechanisms, which when combined, have a unique capability to drive a strong systemic anti-tumour T-cell response.
Speaking about the agreement, Leonard Schleifer, president and CEO of Regeneron said: “As we continue to advance and expand our research efforts in immuno-oncology, the acquisition of Checkmate will add a promising new modality to Regeneron’s toolkit of potential approaches for difficult-to-treat cancers.
“The unique combination of a differentiated Toll-like receptor 9 with other antibody-based oncology agents may result in increased clinical benefit and provide new treatment options for patients in need. We look forward to welcoming the Checkmate team and their complementary scientific acumen to the Regeneron family.”
Alan Bash, president and CEO of Checkmate, said: “We believe that the data we have generated with vidutolimod positions Checkmate at the forefront of the innate immune activator field.
Art Krieg, Checkmate’s founder and chief scientific officer said: “It is our hope that Regeneron’s resources and expertise will help accelerate the development of vidutolimod and realisation of the full potential of our virus-like particle (VLP) platform for immunotherapy.”
The deal is expected to be finalised in mid-2022.