Seattle-based Juno Therapeutics has acquired RedoxTherapies for $10 million, to secure exclusive rights to a molecule that may provide a new cancer treatment.
The molecule, called vipadenant, may help the immune system fight certain cancers, when used in conjunction with T cell therapy. Vipadenant has the potential to disrupt the “adenosine pathway,” which weakens the body’s immune response to a number of cancers. Research has shown that inhibiting this pathway can make T cell therapy, vaccines, and checkpoint inhibitors more efficient in several blood and organ cancers.
Juno paid the $10 million for RedoxTherapies in cash, upfront, with the promise of additional payments when researchers pass undisclosed milestones.
Juno announced the acquisition as it resumed another immunotherapy clinical trial. The Food and Drug Administration suspended the trial after two patients died. Their deaths are thought to be related to a toxic drug reaction. Juno removed the suspect drug from the treatment before resuming the trial.
Vipadenant has been tested in two early clinical trials. The molecule was dosed to over 250 Parkinson’s patients and healthy volunteers. Michail Sitkovsky, RedoxTherapies’ founder, pioneered the adenosine research. He will become a scientific consultant to Juno Therapeutics when RedoxTherapies is incorporated. Juno also secured intellectual property related to Sitkovsky’s adenosine research and engineered T cells.
