Novartis is spending $55 million on global rights to Kyorin Pharmaceutical’s preclinical drug for inflammatory diseases in a deal that comes almost two decades after Novartis’ first pact with the Japanese drugmaker.
The Swiss company will get an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and sell Kyorin’s MRGPRX2 antagonist, dubbed KRP-M223. The Japanese biotech could receive up to $777.5 million in milestones as well as tiered royalties on sales, according to a company
release
Monday. The release did not say when the program could be ready to enter the clinic.
Novartis will be responsible for global development of KRP-M223 but Kyorin still has the option to manufacture and commercialize the drug in Japan.
KRP-M223 has the potential to treat several mast cell-driven conditions, including chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). CSU leads to spontaneous hives and swelling that can last for more than six weeks. The disease affects around 40 million people worldwide.
Kyorin’s drug works by blocking MRGPRX2, which is involved in activating mast cells that release histamine and tryptase, leading to itching and swelling.
Incyte’s INCB000262, which shares the same target, hit a snag in November when
preclinical safety concerns
forced the company to pause enrollment in a Phase 2 CSU trial. Other candidates in more advanced development for CSU target the c-Kit protein. These include
Celldex’s barzolvolimab
and
Jasper Therapeutics’ briquilimab
, both of which are in mid-stage studies.
Novartis previously teamed up with Kyorin in 2006, when it licensed the rights to the Japanese biotech’s immunosuppressant drug KRP-203, although that program was later shelved.
In 2020, two former Novartis executives
launched a company
called Priothera Limited to continue advancing KRP-203 with a focus on acute myeloid leukemia patients getting a hematopoietic stem cell transplant.