Arvinas, Genentech Partner

Arvinas, Inc. a private biotechnology company creating a new class of drugs based on targeted protein degradation, entered into a license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, for the development of new therapeutics using Arvinas’ novel PROTAC technology. The multi-year strategic license agreement encompasses multiple disease targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Arvinas will receive an undisclosed upfront payment. Arvinas is eligible to receive development and commercialization milestone payments in excess of $300 million based on achievement of certain predetermined milestones. In addition, Arvinas is eligible to receive tiered-royalties on sales of products resulting from the license agreement. Full financial terms have not been disclosed.  At Genentech’s discretion, it may elect to expand the collaboration to include additional disease targets for additional consideration.

"We are thrilled to be working with Genentech, a proven expert in drug discovery and development with world class ability to manufacture and commercialize state-of-the-art therapies," said Manuel Litchman, M.D., President and CEO of Arvinas. "Our PROTAC technology represents a completely novel approach to the targeted therapy of cancer and many other diseases, and we are delighted to be working with Genentech on their targets of interest.” 

“Genentech has one of the premier R&D organizations in the industry and I am particularly looking forward to working with them to explore fully the potential of our PROTAC protein degradation technology,” commented Craig Crews, Ph.D., the L.B. Cullman Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at Yale University and Arvinas Chief Scientific Advisor.

PROTACs, or proteolysis-targeting chimeras, are bifunctional small molecules that are designed to target proteins for degradation and removal from a cell. These molecules are intended to induce a cell’s own protein-degradation machinery to bind to a particular protein and “label” it for degradation, thus removing that protein from the system entirely. This contrasts to a more traditional drug development approach that inhibits proteins, which provides transient benefit and works on about a quarter of the body’s proteins. Arvinas’ approach has the potential to radically expand the number of disease-causing proteins that can be targeted.

James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Global Head of Genentech Partnering, commented, “Genentech is very interested in protein degradation as a therapeutic approach to address difficult disease targets. Arvinas’ PROTAC technology offers an exciting opportunity to harness the body’s own system to degrade pathogenic proteins.”