Monte Rosa & Novartis Partner to Develop Immune-Mediated Disease Treatments

Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel molecular glue degrader (MGD)-based medicines, has agreed to collaborate with Novartis to develop novel degraders for immune-mediated diseases.

The agreement is the company’s second with Novartis, in addition to a global exclusive license agreement for Monte Rosa’s VAV1 degraders, including MRT-6160, announced in October 2024.

Under the new agreement, Monte Rosa’s scientists will apply their proprietary AI/ML-enabled QuEEN product engine for the discovery and development of degraders to be further developed and commercialized by Novartis.

Markus Warmuth, M.D., CEO of Monte Rosa Therapeutics, said: “We believe this new agreement further strengthens our relationship with Novartis, a recognized global leader in immune-mediated diseases, and reflects the expansive opportunity in the space for our highly selective and potent MGDs.”

This new collaboration allows Monte Rosa to expedite the development of certain programs with Novartis, leveraging Novartis’ recognized development and commercialization capabilities.

“We are pleased to expand our collaboration with Monte Rosa Therapeutics, building on the strong foundation and progress established through the VAV1 program,” said Fiona Marshall, Ph.D., President of Biomedical Research at Novartis. “This new agreement underscores our commitment to advancing targeted protein degradation as a promising approach to address immune-mediated diseases with high unmet need. We believe Monte Rosa’s QuEEN platform has the potential to uncover new insights in this field.  We look forward to working together to translate these insights into transformative therapies for patients.”

Monte Rosa will receive an upfront payment of $120 million and payments to maintain options. In total, Monte Rosa is eligible for up to $5.7 billion, including upfront, option maintenance, preclinical milestone, option exercise, development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on global net sales in the high single to low double-digit range.