USA – Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has shelled out US$250 million cash to acquire Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotech developing drugs that activate the innate immune system.

Regeneron will pay US$10.50 in cash for each Checkmate share, according to the terms of the agreement. The two companies expect the transaction to close in the middle of this year.

Checkmate is working on therapies that stimulate the innate immune system, the body’s first line of defense against pathogens.

Vidutolimod, the company’s sole drug candidate, is intended to stimulate Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), a receptor expressed in immune cells.

TRL9 is activated by a nucleotide delivered in the form of a virus-like particle in the drug. Vidutolimod, when injected into a tumor, is intended to direct T cells to attack the injected tumor as well as other tumors throughout the body.

Checkmate is not alone in its pursuit of cancer therapies that activate Toll-like receptors. TriSalus Life Sciences, Idera Pharmaceuticals, and Bolt Biotherapeutics are among the other companies taking this approach.

Checkmate hoped to use vidutolimod to establish its approach as a potential treatment for a wide range of solid tumors.

The drug is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 melanoma study in combination with Opdivo, a checkpoint inhibitor from Bristol Myers Squibb.

Checkmate believes that if this trial is successful, it will be able to submit an application to the FDA for approval.

The company also has data from monotherapy trials of vidutolimod in patients whose tumors had progressed despite treatment with an immunotherapy that blocks PD-1, a protein on immune cells that prevents them from recognizing cancer cells.

Regeneron’s presence in cancer is represented by Libtayo, a PD-1 inhibitor marketed in collaboration with Sanofi.

Vidutolimod could be used in conjunction with Libtayo, providing a treatment option for patients whose cancer does not respond to the Regeneron drug.

Libtayo has been approved for the treatment of lung and skin cancers. The majority of Regeneron’s oncology pipeline consists of antibody drugs.

Two have progressed to the mid-stages of development: odronextamab, which is being developed for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and REGN548, which is being developed as a potential multiple myeloma therapy.

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