Curve Therapeutics in US$1.7bn deal with MSD

Under the contract, the Southampton-based mammalian cell drug discovery specialist will discover and validate modulators of up to five therapeutic targets using its Microcycle technology, initially for oncology and neurology indications. Curve has the option to earn up to US$ 1.7bn, including an upfront payment and milestones if all five therapeutic programs succeed. Curve will also receive a royalty on net sales of any approved products resulting from the alliance.

Curve will perform high throughput mammalian cell-based functional screening, hit characterisation, data-mining and analysis, and Microcycle optimisation. MSD will be responsible for lead optimisation, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialisation of compounds identified through the collaboration.

Curve’s platform enables the direct discovery of biologically active molecules against targets, even allosteric or cryptic sites, that have been difficult to address using conventional drug discovery methods. The platform allows rapid enrichment of highly diverse genetically encoded Microcycle (cyclic peptide) libraries in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells to identify library members that have a desired biological activity against a therapeutic target. Importantly, the compact size of Microcycles™ enables their transformation to non-peptidic small molecules for lead optimisation and development.

Curve originated from world-leading Microcycle research conducted by Professor Ali Tavassoli’s group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Southampton, UK. The company was established in 2019 by founding investor Advent Life Sciences and subsequently joined by co-lead Epidarex Capital.