The deal gives Roche exclusive rights for the co-development and commercialisation of pralsetinib outside the US with the exclusion of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. In the US, Roche’s subsidiary Genentech will be granted the co-commercialisation rights to the investigational precision therapy.
Pralsetinib is said to be a once-daily oral precision therapy, which is currently in late-stage development for patients having RET-altered non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and other forms of thyroid cancer, and also other solid tumours.
Additionally, pralsetinib is said to have shown tumour-agnostic potential.
Blueprint Medicines and Roche will also look to expand development of the drug candidate across multiple treatment settings apart from exploring the development of a next-generation RET inhibitor as part of their partnership.
Preclinical data have demonstrated that the Blueprint Medicines’s drug candidate potently blocks primary RET fusions and mutations that result in cancer in subsets of patients, and also secondary RET mutations that are predicted to trigger resistance to treatment.
Roche pharma partnering head James Sabry said: “We are very excited to enter into this collaboration with Blueprint Medicines, a partner we have already been working with for four years, with the goal of bringing a potentially transformative treatment option to patients with rare RET-altered cancers as quickly as possible.
“In bringing pralsetinib to patients, we will leverage our global reach and expertise in oncology, as well as our capabilities in diagnostics and the use of real-world data toward our aim of providing personalised treatments for patients.”
As per the deal terms, Blueprint Medicines will be paid upfront an amount of $675m besides a $100m equity investment from Roche. Additionally, the company stands to earn up to $927m based on development, regulatory and sales-based milestones, and also royalties on net product sales outside the US.
The two firms will share global development expenses, which will be calculated on pre-specified cost-sharing percentages and share profits and losses equally in the US.
Blueprint Medicines CEO Jeff Albers said: “With Roche’s global reach and unparalleled expertise in personalised healthcare, this collaboration will accelerate our ability to bring pralsetinib to patients with significant medical needs around the world and expand development of pralsetinib across multiple treatment settings where there is potential to benefit even broader patient populations.”