Biogen Inc. (Nasdaq: BIIB) and Neomorph Inc. announced a research collaboration to discover and develop molecular glue degraders for priority targets in Alzheimer’s, rare neurological, and immunological diseases.

As part of the collaboration, the companies aim to utilize Neomorph's proprietary molecular glue discovery platform to accelerate the identification and validation of novel small molecule therapeutic molecular glue degraders. Small molecule protein degraders have been shown to effectively drug challenging targets with differentiated pharmacology from more traditional inhibitors. Pursuing innovative solutions aimed at modulating protein levels through targeted degradation holds promise for treating complex neurological, immunological and rare diseases. This collaboration will leverage Neomorph’s research strengths in targeted protein degradation and Biogen’s deep scientific expertise and drug development capabilities.

"As part of our modality agnostic research strategy, Biogen is committed to investing in new approaches to unlock biological targets that have remained difficult to reach," said Jane Grogan, Ph.D., Head of Research at Biogen. "This collaboration with Neomorph reflects the approach we want to take to pair our internal drug development expertise with cutting-edge external innovation to create clinically meaningful therapies for patients."

"Neomorph's molecular glue degrader platform represents a unique approach to drug discovery," said Phil Chamberlain, DPhil, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Neomorph. "We are excited to partner with Biogen, a leader in Alzheimer’s, rare, and immunological diseases, to explore the potential of our technology in addressing some of the most challenging and valuable targets in these fields."

Under the terms of the agreement, Biogen and Neomorph will collaborate to identify, validate, and optimize small molecule molecular glue degraders for several high-priority targets and Biogen will advance clinical candidates for further development and potential commercialization. Neomorph will receive an upfront payment and is eligible to receive contingent milestone payments per target as the collaboration progresses through various stages. These include certain pre-clinical milestones payable in the near-term and certain clinical, regulatory, commercial and sales milestones that are anticipated to occur later this decade and beyond, for a total consideration of up to $1.45B. Biogen will reimburse Neomorph for certain research development costs. Neomorph is also eligible to receive potential future royalties in the mid-single digit to low double-digit range.