Remix Therapeutics and J&J's Janssen have announced a collaboration to develop small molecule therapeutics using Remix’s proprietary REMaster drug discovery platform.
The agreement states that Remix will receive an upfront payment of $45 million in cash. There is also potential for milestone payments and tiered royalties for any resulting products, leaving Remix with $1 billion in prospective payments.
Remix, a relative newcomer to the biotech scene, is developing small molecule therapies that can be taken orally to reprogram RNA processing. The REMaster drug discovery platform allows Remix to identify patterns in RNA processing and use them to modify gene messages. Since its 2020 launch, the Massachusetts-based startup has focused its efforts on advancing its new approach to vaccine development.
While Remix’s statement about the new collaboration did not go into detail about the companies’ plans for development, the company said that Janssen will receive exclusive rights to three specific targets with application in immunology and oncology.
Janssen says the technology will allow them to develop therapies across areas like cancers, central nervous system diseases and rare genetic diseases, including those that are unresponsive to treatment by traditional therapies.
“Janssen is an ideal strategic partner for our REMaster platform,” said Peter Smith, CEO and co-founder of Remix. The partnership validates the technology behind REMaster and offers further resources that can be translated into powerful new vaccines, Smith added.
