Roche purchased promedior, a biotech company, for us $390 million and introduced therapeutic drugs for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

On November 18, 2019, arteria.com learned through foreign media that Roche, a Swiss pharmaceutical giant, announced the acquisition of promedior, a biotechnology company According to the financial terms, Roche will pay $390 million in upfront cash to promediator, and another $1 billion if its drug is approved for marketing and meets its marketing objectives It is reported that after the acquisition, promedior's fibrotic drugs will be incorporated into Roche's drug product line Among them, prm-151, a drug for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), showed satisfactory efficacy in the mid-term clinical trials Currently, only two drugs have been approved for IPF, one of which is echebriet developed by Roche Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA, promedior is a clinical stage biotechnology and pharmaceutical company The company is committed to developing targeted therapies and innovative drugs to treat rare fibrotic diseases such as IPF and myelofibrosis (MF) Since its inception, promediator has been supported by leading global healthcare venture capitalists such as morgenthaler ventures, healthcare ventures and forbion Promediator has a pentraxin-2 drug development platform, based on which it has developed prm-151 and ptx-2 and other major candidate drugs Prm-151 showed a wide range of anti fibrosis activities in preclinical models of pulmonary fibrosis, MF, acute and chronic kidney disease and liver fibrosis, and was awarded the title of breakthrough therapy by FDA in early 2019 IPF is a kind of progressive and irreversible serious disease, which is characterized by fibrosis and scarring of lung tissue, leading to gradual loss of lung function, thus hindering lung gas exchange The average survival rate of IPF patients after diagnosis is 2 to 3 years, and the mortality rate is higher than that of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer According to the National Institutes of health, there are about 100000 IPF patients in the United States, which may be caused by genetic and environmental factors, but the specific pathogenesis is not clear Founded in 1896 and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leading biotechnology company in the world The company is committed to two core pharmaceutical businesses - pharmaceutical and diagnostic technology, and based on research and development, provides personalized treatment solutions for each patient Roche holds a leading position in the field of in vitro diagnosis and anti-tumor drug development, and is also a pioneer in diabetes management The company's products cover nervous system, dermatology, infectious diseases and virology and other medical fields Roche's business covers more than 100 countries around the world, with nearly 100000 employees, and its wholly-owned subsidiaries in the biomedical industry such as Genentech Roche is committed to improving human health and quality of life In 2018, Roche Group's revenue reached CHF 56.8 billion and R & D investment reached USD 10.98 billion Jason lettmann, chief executive officer of promedior and general partner of Lightstone ventures, said: "after more than ten years of research, development and investment, promedior has finally developed innovative treatment drugs for fibrotic diseases In my opinion, Roche's development strategy is very consistent with that of promedior, and this acquisition will promote the development and commercialization of such drugs " James Sabry, MD, global head of Roche pharmaceutical, said: "we are pleased to combine the product of promedior with Roche's drug development platform to further expand the role of prm-151 in the treatment of fibrosis diseases such as IPF and MF We will rely on our expertise and past experience in drug research and development to commercialize prm-151 as soon as possible and provide patients with new therapies " (compiler: Xu Xiaoxue) 37