Merck & Co. has become the latest pharma to jump on the KRAS G12D bandwagon, paying $400 million to China’s SciBrunch for a preclinical candidate.
In return for the worldwide rights to the therapy, dubbed SPR2015, Merck has also agreed to milestone payments that could bring the deal’s total value up to $2.13 billion across “multiple indications,” according to a Sept. 28 release.
KRAS is a frequently mutated oncogene, but the lack of well-defined binding pockets rendered the proteins undruggable for years. With Amgen and Mirati Therapeutics showing KRAS G12C can be drugged by Lumakras and Krazati, interest in hitting other KRAS variants has increased in recent years.
KRAS G12D, a mutation found in about 38% of pancreatic cancer patients, is at the center of the next wave of programs. This has included Bayer penning a $1.3 billion biobucks deal with Kumquat Biosciences for a preclinical asset.
Merck already has a KRAS drug in the clinic in the form of the KRAS G12C inhibitor calderasib, which is in phase 3 trials for colorectal cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Today’s deal with SciBrunch means the U.S. pharma now also has a bet placed on KRAS G12D.
“Evidence continues to accumulate for the therapeutic potential of targeting the KRAS pathway, a well-characterized factor in tumor cell growth,” George Addona, senior vice president, discovery, preclinical development and translational medicine, Merck Research Laboratories, said in the release.
“This agreement complements and diversifies our expanding pipeline of precision targeted candidates with SPR2015, a potent engineered inhibitor for one of the most prevalent mutant forms of KRAS found in human cancers,” Addona added.
Merck pointed out that SPR2015 has already demonstrated “nanomolar antiproliferative activities in various KRAS G12D-mutant cell lines while maintaining good selectivity over KRAS wildtype cells.”
Shanghai-based SciBrunch was founded two years ago by entrepreneur Tao Hu, Ph.D., and medicinal chemist Yang Zhang, Ph.D. The biotech has already taken its lead candidate, a brain-penetrant PARP1 selective inhibitor for a range of cancers, into the clinic, bankrolled by $65 million raised across two funding rounds.
“Since our founding, SciBrunch has remained focused on advancing innovative therapies targeting the RAS pathway and is committed to delivering transformative treatment options for patients with pancreatic, colorectal, lung and other major malignant tumors,” Hu said in the release.
