• Matchpoint to receive up to $60 million in upfront payment and research funding, with up to $1 billion in total potential payments, including option exercise fee, development and commercial milestones
• Matchpoint will lead all research activities through development candidate selection

Matchpoint Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering the discovery of precision covalent medicines, announced that it has entered into an exclusive option and license agreement with Novartis for the development and commercialisation of oral covalent inhibitors directed at a transcription factor linked to a number of inflammatory diseases.

“This collaboration highlights the potential of our targeted approach to covalent chemistry to unlock novel mechanisms and achieve superior pharmacology,” said Andre Turenne, President and CEO of Matchpoint Therapeutics. “We are thrilled to collaborate with Novartis, not only for its leadership in immunology research, but also for its outstanding drug development and commercialization track record. These capabilities will ensure that our program has the maximum impact for patients.”

Matchpoint’s approach leverages the properties of covalent chemistry and a proprietary platform to target a novel binding site on a historically hard-to-drug protein. The result is to precisely inhibit that protein’s function and the resulting production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines.

"Novartis is deeply committed to pioneering innovative approaches for patients living with inflammatory and autoimmune diseases,” said Richard Siegel, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Immunology Research at Novartis. “We are excited to partner with Matchpoint to advance covalent medicines with the potential to address unmet medical needs and historically undruggable targets."

Under the terms of the agreement, Matchpoint will utilize its Advanced Covalent Exploration (ACE)™ platform to advance its preclinical program through development candidate selection. Matchpoint will lead all research activities to that point and will receive research funding from Novartis. If Novartis exercises its option to exclusively license the program, Novartis will have global rights to develop and commercialize all products resulting from the collaboration. Matchpoint is eligible to receive up to $1 billion in total payments, including development and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties on future product sales.

Aquilo Partners LP and Ropes & Gray LLP acted as financial and legal advisors to Matchpoint on this transaction, respectively.