Ipsen, Marengo Therapeutics Enter Strategic Immuno-Oncology Pact

Ipsen and Marengo Therapeutics, Inc. entered a strategic partnership to advance two of Marengo’s preclinical STAR platform-generated candidates into the clinic. The collaboration will leverage Marengo’s R&D expertise of a novel mechanism of T cell activation with Ipsen’s global oncology footprint for clinical development and commercialization.
 
Ipsen will make an upfront payment of $45 million, together with potential payments of as much as $1.59 billion if all milestones are met in addition to royalty payments. Marengo will lead the preclinical development efforts and will expense related costs until the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. FDA. Ipsen will assume responsibilities for clinical development and commercialization.
 
“Marengo’s foundational discovery of activation of T cell subsets via TCR Vβ is unprecedented and highly differentiated from the current immuno-oncology technologies we have seen,” said Howard Mayer, M.D., Executive Vice President and Head of R&D at Ipsen. “This partnership with Marengo provides a strong foundation for a productive and successful collaboration as we embark on a journey to develop novel and durable therapies that will strengthen our oncology pipeline and further enhance our commitment to people living with cancer.”
 
“Our strategic partnership with Ipsen underscores our shared ambition to develop transformative medicines for people fighting cancer,” said Zhen Su, M.D., MBA, CEO of Marengo Therapeutics. “Marengo brings a precision medicine approach to the field of Immuno-oncology with a focus on T cell activation and this collaboration is an important validation of our STAR platform beyond our lead candidate. Together this partnership is a demonstration of the strong progress and promise of our innovative scientific platform.”