- Tilos Therapeutics is a company known for developing therapeutics targeting the latent TGFβ complex for treating cancer, fibrosis, and autoimmune diseases
- Merck is acquiring Tilos Therapeutics for a consideration of up to $773 million
Pharmaceutical giant Merck (known as MSD outside of the US and Canada) recently announced an agreement to buy biopharma company Tilos Therapeutics for a consideration of up to $773 million. Tilos is known for developing therapeutics targeting the latent TGFβ complex for treating cancer, fibrosis, and autoimmune diseases.
“At Merck we continue to enhance our robust pipeline through active execution of our business development strategy,” said Merck’s SVP of discovery and translational medicine Dr. Dean Li. “Tilos has developed a compelling portfolio of candidates that employ a novel approach to modulating the potent signaling molecule TGFβ by binding to latency-associated peptide, with potential applications across a range of disease indications.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Merck will acquire all outstanding shares of Tilos for total potential consideration of up to $773 million through a subsidiary, including an upfront payment as well as contingent milestone payments.
“We are proud that the Tilos team has advanced the discoveries of our scientific founders by developing a portfolio of anti-LAP antibodies designed to realize the full potential of TGFβ-modulating therapeutics,” added Tilos CEO Dr. Barbara Fox. “This agreement with Merck, an industry leader in biopharmaceutical research and development, provides meaningful validation for our therapeutic approach and best positions our pipeline for broad clinical and commercial success.”
Tilos Therapeutics was founded just three years ago by Fox and Jonathan Behr (now managing director at a venture philanthropy fund called JDRF T1D Fund, LLC). Prior to launching Tilos Therapeutics, Fox was an entrepreneur in residence at the Partners Innovation Fund in Cambridge, Mass. And she was also previously the CEO of Avaxia Biologics, the founding president and chief scientific officer of Recovery Pharmaceuticals, and a Post-doctoral fellow at NIH.
Tilos has been funded by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Partners Innovation Fund based on discoveries by the laboratory of Dr. Howard Weiner at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. And additional investment was provided by ShangPharma Innovation Fund.
TGFβ is a potent cytokine believed to have played an important role in the development of cancer and fibrotic diseases. TGFβ is secreted as a complex with the protein, latency-associated peptide (LAP). LAP forms a cage around TGFβ, which holds the cytokine in an inactive state until it is deployed. And evidence has shown that anti-LAP antibodies block the release of TGFβ from the TGFβ-LAP complex with the potential to provide a novel therapeutic mechanism to reduce TGFβ activity.
As a global biopharmaceutical company, Merck has brought forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. Through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies and animal health products, Merck works with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. And Merck is known for specializing in the research to advance the prevention and treatment of diseases that threaten people and communities around the world including cancer, cardio-metabolic diseases, animal diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and infectious diseases such as HIV and Ebola.
This is Merck’s third cancer-related acquisition this year. Other acquisitions include Peloton Therapeutics in May (more than $1 billion) and Immune Design in February ($300 million).
