M&A

Roche has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Telavant Holdings, a Roivant company, owned by Roivant Sciences and Pfizer. This agreement includes development, manufacturing and commercialisation rights in the US and Japan for the company’s RVT-3101, a TL1A directed antibody for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.

RVT-3101 has been assessed in the phase 2b TUSCANY-2 trial in patients with ulcerative colitis, which provided the first long-term, dose-finding data in a large group of patients.

The treatment resulted in improved clinical remission and endoscopic improvement. The trial also demonstrated a favourable safety profile in all patients.

Levi Garraway, Roche’s chief medical officer and head of global product development, added: “The recent phase 2b for RVT-3101 delivered the first long-term, robust data set demonstrating improved clinical remission in the maintenance treatment phase. Given this promising data, we believe that RVT-3101 has the potential to be the first therapy that offers both high efficacy and safety for people with inflammatory bowel disease and the convenience of an at-home, subcutaneous administration."

Thomas Schinecker, CEO of Roche Group, commented: “We strongly believe this novel TL1A directed antibody has the transformational potential to make a significant difference for patients living with inflammatory bowel disease and potentially other diseases. We are excited to add this promising new therapy in development to our portfolio and to make it available to patients as quickly as possible.”

Roche is expected to pay an upfront fee of $7.1bn followed by milestone payments of $150m.