In the first part of a two-part interview, Paz Vellanki of Precision for Medicine explains what sponsors should bring to early FDA meetings and how manufacturing and assay readiness can delay rare disease trials.
|Articles|July 2, 2014
Roche to Acquire Seragon Pharmaceuticals
Author(s)BioPharm International Editors
Genentech's $1.7 billion acquisition of Seargon Pharmaceutical includes portfolio of investigational next-generation oral selective estrogen receptor degraders.
Advertisement
Roche has announced that Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Seragon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company based in San Diego. With this acquisition, Genentech obtains rights to Seragon's portfolio of investigational next-generation oral selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs), for the potential treatment of hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.
Under the terms of the agreement, Genentech will make an upfront cash payment of $725 million, plus additional contingent payments of up to $1 billion based on achievement of certain predetermined milestones. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014, subject to customary closing conditions. Once the transaction is completed, Seragon’s portfolio will be integrated into Genentech Research and Early Development.
Scientists at Seragon have developed next-generation selective estrogen receptor degraders (SERDs). This class of medicines is designed to both block estradiol action at the estrogen receptor and also eliminate the estrogen receptor from the cell altogether.
Seragon’s lead product candidate, ARN-810, is a next-generation SERD that is currently in Phase I clinical trials for patients who have hormone receptor-positive breast cancer and have failed current hormonal agents. These next-generation SERDs complement Genentech’s existing research and development programs in breast cancer, the company reports.
Source:
Advertisement
Related to this article
FDA clears the IND for Biolojic Design’s BD200, an AI-designed Trop2/Nectin-4 multibody ADC; Blackstone Life Sciences agrees to provide Pfizer up to $1.5 billion to develop its monthly GLP-1 receptor agonist berobenatide; and enGene Therapeutics plans a year-end BLA for detalimogene voraplasmid in BCG-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
FDA has cleared Biolojic Design’s IND for BD200, a bispecific antibody-drug conjugate targeting Trop2 and Nectin-4 whose arms can each bind either target. A global Phase 1 study in solid tumors is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Blackstone Life Sciences will fund up to $1.5 billion of development costs through 2028 for Pfizer’s monthly GLP-1 receptor agonist berobenatide, in exchange for milestone payments tied to approval and sales. Pfizer keeps full control of the program.
Beam Therapeutics’ base-edited cell therapy risto-cel meets its primary endpoint in the BEACON sickle cell disease trial, Amgen’s CD40L antagonist dazodalibep reduces systemic disease activity in the phase 3 OASIZ-301 Sjögren’s disease trial, and ImvivaBio’s allogeneic CD19/BCMA CAR-T CTA313 sustains lupus remission through 12 months.
ImvivaBio’s off-the-shelf CD19/BCMA CAR-T cell therapy CTA313 kept 88% of evaluable patients with refractory lupus in DORIS remission at Month 12, according to longer-term phase 1 data presented at ACR Convergence 2026.
Full phase 3 OASIZ-301 results show both dosing regimens of Amgen’s CD40L antagonist fusion protein dazodalibep reduced systemic disease activity in Sjögren’s disease at Week 48. The every-four-weeks dose also improved patient-reported dryness.
FDA grants RMAT and Fast Track designations to AbelZeta’s CD20/CD19 bispecific CAR-T prizlon-cel in relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma, Larimar Therapeutics completes a BLA seeking accelerated approval of nomlabofusp for Friedreich’s ataxia, and Merck’s GLP-1/glucagon receptor agonist efinopegdutide meets its primary endpoint in a phase 2b MASH trial.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Trending on BioPharm International
1
ImvivaBio’s Dual-Target Allogeneic CAR-T Sustains Lupus Remission Through 12 Months
2
Blackstone to Provide Pfizer Up to $1.5 Billion for Monthly GLP-1 Berobenatide Development
3
Updates on Simtra BioPharma Solutions’ Bloomington Capacity Expansions
4
The BioPharm Brief: An AI-Designed Multibody ADC Enters the Clinic, Blackstone Backs Pfizer’s Monthly GLP-1, and enGene Readies a Bladder Cancer BLA
5