A global pharmaceutical company is paying $70 million upfront for a Cary startup and its lead product candidate.
Delaware-based Incyte (Nasdaq: INCY) announced Monday its acquisition of Villaris Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company centered on its development of a treatment for the disease vitiligo. Through the transaction, Incyte obtains exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize Villaris' lead asset, auremolimab, for use against vitiligo and other diseases.
In addition to the upfront cash, shareholders for Villaris Therapeutics are eligible for another $310 million based on certain development and regulatory milestones and up to an additional $1.05 billion if certain commercial milestones are met.
These potential commercial milestones are years away, as auremolimab remains in preclinical development. Incyte expects to move the monoclonal antibody into clinical trials next year.
John Harris, a professor and chair of dermatology at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, founded Villaris in 2019 with the backing of the health care investment firm Medicxi. The company raised $18 million in series A funding.
Along with its founder, the company is led by CEO and President Andrea Epperly, who has more than two decades of experience in the Triangle's pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. This includes experience in drug development at GlaxoSmithKline.
The deal allows the development of auremolimab to move forward with the support of Incyte's capabilities and resources, Harris said. Incyte, which also has headquarters in Switzerland and more than 2,000 employees, generated revenue of about $3 billion last year.
And for Incyte, the deal adds to the company's current portfolio in the dermatology space, CEO Hervé Hoppenot said.
"People living with immune-mediated dermatologic diseases like vitiligo face significant challenges and we are committed to developing novel therapies like auremolimab, which may address these unmet needs," Hoppenot said.
Shares for Incyte were trading around $68.02 Monday morning, down about 8 percent from the beginning of the year.
The deal follows another recent acquisition of a Triangle startup by a global company. In August, Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates acquired Duke spinout InnAVasc Medical, a startup developing an arteriovenous graft technology for patients with end-stage renal disease. The financial terms of that deal were not disclosed.