Merck has acquired New Haven, Connecticut-based Modifi Biosciences, a spinoff from Yale that has become a leader in the development of direct DNA modification enabled cancer therapeutics, it announced this week.
Under the terms of the agreement Merck, through a subsidiary, has acquired all outstanding shares of Modifi Biosciences for $30 million upfront. Modifi Biosciences shareholders are also eligible to receive potential milestone payments totaling up to $1.3 billion.
Modifi Biosciences, formed in 2021, has developed a novel class of small molecules that target cancer cells lacking expression of a key DNA repair protein called O6-methylguanine methyl transferase. Modifi Biosciences’ research has been validated through its initial work published by the academic founders in Science in 2022, and subsequent compelling pre-clinical data across a number of tumor models including patient-derived xenograft models of gliomas and other cancers with intrinsic DNA repair defects.
Dr. David Weinstock, vice president, discovery oncology, Merck Research Laboratories, applauded the announcement.
“DNA repair defects are a frequent hallmark of tumor cells and a major cause of resistance to cancer therapy,” he said. “The talented Modifi Biosciences team has developed an innovative approach that we believe has potential for treating some of the most refractory cancer types.”
Dr. Ranjit Bindra, a co-founder, and Kate Cushing, a professor of therapeutic radiology at Yale School of Medicine, and Scientific Director of the Yale Brain Tumor Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital, were thrilled by the news.
“In founding Modifi Biosciences, we sought to radically change the oncology treatment paradigm for cancer patients with glioblastoma and other tumors,” they said in a joint statement. “We are honored to have Merck recognize the potential of our science, and as an oncology company, they are perfectly positioned to advance our innovations through clinical trials and commercialization.”
