Orionis Biosciences has entered a strategic partnership with Genentech, a subsidiary of Roche Group, to develop molecular glue medicines for cancer.
It is the second agreement between the two companies, focusing on the discovery of small-molecule monovalent glue medicines targeting novel and challenging oncology targets.
Under the partnership, Orionis will lead the discovery and optimisation of molecular glues.
Genentech will manage the later stages of preclinical and clinical development, regulatory filing, and commercialisation.
Orionis will receive an upfront payment of $105m and could earn over $2bn in milestone payments, along with potential tiered royalties from product sales.
Roche corporate business development head Boris Zaïtra said: “Molecular glues, including protein degraders and non-degraders, are an exciting therapeutic modality, providing access to disease-related proteins that have proven challenging and elusive to more traditional treatment modalities.
“This new collaboration with Orionis has the potential to significantly enhance our innovation to bring transformative cancer medicines to patients”.
Orionis Biosciences is a clinical-stage life sciences company known for its innovative approach to drug discovery, particularly through its Allo-Glue platform.
The platform facilitates the discovery and design of small-molecule glues for induced proximity applications, enabling the targeting of difficult and elusive disease targets.
The company’s Allo-Glue platform integrates advanced technologies, including chemical biology tools, engineered cellular assay systems, and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The capabilities allow for the analysis of millions of in-cell protein interaction events, accelerating the discovery and optimisation of molecular glue modalities.
Orionis also utilises its A-Kine biologics platform, which features engineered cytokines with cell-target selectivity and multifunctional immune cell engagers.
Orionis Biosciences co-founder and CEO Niko Kley said: “We are thrilled about this second collaboration with Genentech, which expands our collaborative efforts in applying induced proximity concepts to include molecular glue types beyond targeted protein degraders.
“The expansion of our existing strategic alliance underlines a strong alignment in vision for molecular glues, and the excellent work by both teams during the past year.”
Orionis chief data scientist Riccardo Sabatini said: “At Orionis, we have built a unique capability for discovery of new drug modalities to rationally reprogram protein networks. It’s an exciting time in small-molecule drug development.”
