Roche signs $2 billion deal with Atavistik to discover allosteric cardiovascular-renal-metabolic drugs

Roche announced a partnership with Cambridge-based biotech Atavistik Bio to develop allosteric small-molecule therapies for cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. The agreement includes an upfront payment of $70 million and up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments, for a total potential value of $2 billion.

Atavistik will use its metabolite-protein screening (AMPS) platform to identify novel binding pockets on target proteins, a capability the company says can uncover sites that are difficult to drug with traditional approaches.

The collaboration assigns Atavistik the discovery and early research work, after which Roche will take over pre-clinical development and later stages. Atavistik’s lead program, ATV-1601, is an oral allosteric AKT1 inhibitor currently in a phase 1/2 trial for hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, and the firm also has preclinical JAK2 inhibitors for myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The deal highlights Roche’s continued investment in innovative platforms to expand its cardiovascular-renal-metabolic pipeline.