Roche joins startup Remix in bet on another way to drug RNA

2024-01-03

Dive Brief:

Roche is turning again to a biotechnology company developing pills that can target RNA molecules, announcing Wednesday a partnership with startup Remix Therapeutics.

The Swiss pharma will pay Remix $30 million upfront to start the deal. It could make as much as $12 million in other, near-term milestone payments, as well as up to $1 billion in future payouts, if certain programs progress. In return, Roche receives exclusive rights to drugs aimed at certain targets.

The agreement is the third of its kind Roche has formed in recent years, following earlier pacts with Arrakis Therapeutics and Ribometrix. It’s also the latest deal involving RNA-targeting pills, an increasingly popular area of drug research.

Dive Insight:

Ongoing research of RNA, the messenger molecule that cells use to turn genetic blueprints into proteins, has catalyzed new attempts to develop chemical-based medicines that can target it.

Past successes were largely accidental. Doing so purposely is a more daunting task that involves finding the correct RNA sequences and designing medicines that hit them without causing unintended harm. The rewards are seen as significant, offering an opportunity to reach disease targets previously considered “undruggable.”

Remix was purpose built for the task. Like its other startup peers, it’s raised sizable funds from investors to try to discover small molecule drugs that can hit RNA.

Also on Wednesday, the Watertown, Massachusetts company revealed it added $60 million in fresh funding for its work, which is led by a prospective cancer drug that could enter clinical testing this year. Remix has now raised more than $200 million in total from The Column Group, Atlas Venture, Arch Venture Partners and others.

The potential to drug RNA with pills has drawn interest from larger drugmakers, too. Another startup in the space, Skyhawk Therapeutics, has partnerships with Sanofi and Merck & Co., among others. Accent Therapeutics is working with AstraZeneca and Ipsen. Remix teamed up with Johnson & Johnson in 2022.

Roche’s 2020 deal with Arrakis, meanwhile, included a nearly $190 million upfront payment and was followed a year later by the Ribometrix collaboration. The Remix partnership adds to those efforts, though as with its other deals, the company offered little details on the targets or therapeutic areas involved.

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