Epitopea’s collaboration with MSD/Merck is worth up to $300m per product
Epitopea has entered into a license and research collaboration agreement with MSD (the trade name for Merck outside the US and Canada).
The Cambridge and Montreal-based cancer immunotherapeutics company is developing accessible, off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies.
Under the terms of the agreement, Epitopea will deploy its proprietary CryptoMap platform to identify and provide novel, immunogenic Cryptigen TSAs (tumour-specific antigens) for a prespecified tumour type.
The hidden Cryptigen TSAs were first discovered through research led by Drs Claude Perreault and Pierre Thibault at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer at the Université de Montréal.
The two researchers co-founded Epitopea in 2021.
Their CryptoMap platform leverages immunopeptidomics, genomics, and a bioinformatics pipeline, allowing the identification of aberrantly expressed, tumour-specific antigens that are hidden within cancer’s ‘junk’ DNA.
Incorporated in 2021, Epitopea closed a $31m pre-Series A finance round. In the new agreement, MSD will have the exclusive right to develop and commercialise therapeutics derived from the collaboration. In return, Epitopea will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and is eligible for milestone payments with the potential to total up to $300million per product.
“Despite the remarkable progress made in cancer treatment over the past decade, more therapeutic options are needed,” said George Addona, senior vice president, discovery, preclinical development and translational medicine, Merck Research Laboratories. “We continue to explore new ways to build upon our strong foundation in immuno-oncology and look forward to collaborating with the Epitopea team.”
The news was welcomed by Michael Anstey, partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital.
“Having supported the company since its formation, we are thrilled that Epitopea’s next-generation antigen discovery platform will be leveraged in this license and research collaboration agreement with MSD, a leading biopharmaceutical company in the immuno-oncology space,” he said.
Alan C Rigby, Epitopea’s CEO, said: “At Epitopea we continue to accelerate the development of our preclinical pipeline as we transition to a clinical-stage company on the ‘heels’ of our recent, oversubscribed, pre-Series A financing.
“Epitopea has been at the forefront of identifying Cryptigen TSAs, whose intratumor shared nature across patients has made them ideal targets for the development of off-the-shelf immunotherapies.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with MSD as our teams collectively look to impact the lives of patients with cancer by helping to improve outcomes.”
