Merck KGaA (Xetra:MRK) said that its Merck Ventures arm created immuno-oncology newco iOnctura S.A. (Geneva, Switzerland) with an undisclosed seed investment. The newco launched with two unnamed assets spun out of Merck’s Healthcare R&D portfolio, and exclusive, worldwide options to three unnamed assets from the Cancer Research Technology (CRT) commercial arm of Cancer Research UK (London, U.K.). CRT received an undisclosed equity holding in the company and is eligible for development and regulatory milestone payments, plus royalties.
iOnctura said its preclinical pipeline consists of a selective phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) delta inhibitor; an autotaxin (ENPP2; ATX) inhibitor; an ADCC-enhanced antibody against lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3; CD223); an antibody against chemokine CXC motif ligand 12 (CXCL12; SDF-1); and an anti-CD73 antibody. The PI3K delta inhibitor has completed IND-enabling studies. iOnctura did not say which compounds came from Merck and CRT, but said it is now developing all five in collaboration with CRT...
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