Repare Therapeutics has inked a worldwide agreement with Roche for the development and commercialization of camonsertib (RP-3500), an oral small molecule inhibitor of ATR (Ataxia-Telangiectasia and Rad3-related protein kinase) currently in phase I/II trials. The drug was created using Repare’s proprietary synthetic lethality platform and targets tumors with specific genomic alterations including those in the ATM gene (Ataxia-Telangiectasia mutated kinase).
Repare will receive a $125 million upfront payment and is eligible for up to $1.2 billion in potential clinical, regulatory, commercial and sales milestones, including up to $55 million in near-term payments, and royalties on global net sales ranging from high-single-digits to high-teens. Under the collaboration, Roche will assume development of camonsertib with the potential to expand its use in additional tumors and through multiple combination studies.
“Camonsertib has the potential to help cancer patients across numerous solid tumors as a monotherapy and possibly in combination with other agents,” said Kim Seth, PhD, EVP and Head of Business and Corporate Development at Repare.
He added that, “Given the encouraging data Repare has generated for camonsertib as a potentially best-in-class ATR inhibitor with a promising tolerability profile and patient selection insights in areas of high unmet medical need, and Roche’s leading global footprint and unique expertise in precision oncology, we are confident that Roche is the ideal partner for us to drive the broad global development and commercialization of camonsertib.”
The collaboration provides Repare with the ability to opt-in to a 50/50 US co-development and profit share arrangement, including participation in US co-promotion if regulatory approval is received. If Repare chooses to exercise its co-development and profit share option, it will continue to be eligible to receive certain clinical, regulatory, commercial and sales milestone payments, in addition to full ex-US royalties
“Roche is excited about the emerging DNA damage response field, which represents a promising new approach to precision oncology,” said James Sabry, MD, PhD, Global Head of Pharma Partnering, Roche. “We are looking forward to partnering with Repare Therapeutics to further develop camonsertib as a new potential treatment option for patients with significant unmet medical needs across a range of tumor types. The collaboration with Repare builds on Roche’s strategy of personalized healthcare and further strengthens our leadership in oncology.”
Repare’s SNIPRx platform is a genome-wide CRISPR-based screening approach using proprietary isogenic cell lines to identify novel and known synthetic lethal gene pairs and the corresponding patients who are most likely to benefit from the Company’s therapies based on the genetic profile of their tumors. Repare’s platform enables the development of precision therapeutics in patients whose tumors contain one or more genomic alterations identified by SNIPRx screening, in order to selectively target those tumors in patients most likely to achieve clinical benefit from resulting product candidates.
Besides lead prospect camonsertib, the company has several other ongoing projects. It’s second clinical candidate, RP-6306, is a PKMYT1 inhibitor currently in Phase 1 clinical development. The company also has a Polθ inhibitor program and several other early-stage, pre-clinical programs.
