Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is adding a new piece to its pipeline with the acquisition of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotech with a different approach of getting the immune system to fight cancer.
According to terms of the deal, Regeneron will pay $10.50 cash for each Checkmate share. Shares of the Checkmate jumped to nearly that level after the deal was announced Tuesday, well above Monday’s $2.43 closing price but still shy of the $15 per share IPO price in 2020. Tarrytown, New York-based Regeneron and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Checkmate expect to close the transaction in the middle of this year.
Checkmate is developing therapies that activate the innate immune system, the body’s first-line defense against pathogens. The company’s lone drug candidate, vidutolimod, is designed to stimulate Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), a receptor expressed in immune cells. The drug activates TRL9 with a nucleotide that’s delivered in a virus-like particle. Given as an injection into the tumor, vidutolimod is intended to direct T cells to attack the injected tumor as well as other tumors throughout the body. Checkmate has competition in the chase for cancer therapies that activate Toll-like receptors. Other companies taking this approach include TriSalus Life Sciences, Idera Pharmaceuticals, and Bolt Biotherapeutics.
Checkmate aimed to use vidutolimod as a way to establish its approach as a way to potentially treat a wide range of solid tumors. The drug is currently in a Phase 2 melanoma study evaluating the therapy in combination with Opdivo, a checkpoint inhibitor from Bristol Myers Squibb. Checkmate has said it believes success in this trial could support the submission of an application seeking FDA approval.
The company also has data from tests of vidutolimod as a monotherapy in patients whose tumors had progressed despite treatment with an immunotherapy that blocks PD-1, a protein on immune cells that keeps them from recognizing cancer cells. Regeneron’s presence in cancer is through Libtayo, a PD-1 inhibitor marketed under a partnership with Sanofi. Vidutolimod could complement Libtayo, offering a treatment option to patients whose cancer does not respond to that Regeneron drug.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Libtayo has approvals in lung and skin cancers. The Regeneron oncology pipeline is comprised mainly of antibody drugs. Two have reached mid-stage testing: odronextamab, which is in development for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and REGN548, which is a potential multiple myeloma therapy. Regeneron views the Checkmate drug as complementary to its own oncology assets.
“As we continue to advance and expand our research efforts in immuno-oncology, the acquisition of Checkmate will add a promising new modality to Regeneron’s toolkit of potential approaches for difficult-to-treat cancers,” Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron’s president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “The unique combination of a differentiated Toll-like receptor 9 with other antibody-based oncology agents may result in increased clinical benefit and provide new treatment options for patients in need.”
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