Flare Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company targeting transcription factors to discover precision medicines for oncology and other therapeutic areas, has entered into a strategic discovery collaboration with Roche.
 
This partnership will leverage Flare Therapeutics’ proteomic and mass spectrometry platform and expertise, powered by its proprietary library of electrophilic compounds, to discover novel small molecule drugs aimed at previously undrugged transcription factor targets in oncology.
 
“This collaboration will accelerate the expansion of our capabilities, enabling us to develop treatments for transcription factors implicated in indications with high unmet needs. Together with Roche’s expertise, our objective is to successfully pursue challenging transcription factor targets, with the ultimate goal of providing novel interventions for patients who are not currently served by standard-of-care therapies,” said Rob Sims, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Co-founder of Flare Therapeutics.
 
“We are excited to join forces with Flare Therapeutics, combining our leading expertise and global reach in oncology with Flare Therapeutics’ deep knowledge in drug discovery for difficult-to-drug transcription factor targets. Transcription factors play a crucial role in various oncological diseases and have the potential to address high unmet medical needs. We are looking forward to developing therapeutic options never possible before,” said Boris L. Zaïtra, Head of Roche Corporate Business Development.
 
As part of the collaboration, Flare Therapeutics will receive a $70 million upfront cash payment and is eligible to receive discovery, development, and commercialization milestone payments potentially exceeding $1.8 billion and royalties. Flare Therapeutics will lead discovery and preclinical activities targeting multiple transcription factor targets in oncology, while Roche will pursue the further preclinical and clinical development and commercialization of potential products from the collaboration, leveraging its industry-leading capabilities in oncology.
 
Additionally, Flare Therapeutics retains a right to co-fund development for one target under the collaboration in exchange for increased royalties in the United States for this target. Flare Therapeutics will retain ownership of its existing pipeline, including its lead clinical-stage program, FX-909, in advanced urothelial cancer, its prostate cancer program entering IND-enabling studies, and other programs in discovery and early development in oncology and other therapeutic areas.