Roche Announces $250M Deal to Acquire Good Therapeutics and its Access to Targeted Drug Technology
Roche’s move reflects the continued interest in a type of cancer therapy that’s shown mixed results. The general goal is to harness the potentially significant cancer-fighting power of IL-2, a protein that can boost the immune system, while minimizing the side effects seen with an older medicine called Proleukin.
Good Therapeutics describes its experimental drugs as “conditionally active.” They come with a sensor component that activates the therapy only when it’s in proximity to T cells expressing another protein called PD-1, in theory cutting down on side effects. The company currently has five drug candidates; none have been tested in humans yet and only the first has advanced into preclinical development.
The idea of a better IL-2 drug has sparked a flurry of biotech launches and acquisitions over the last five years. In 2018, Bristol Myers paid $1.85 billion upfront in a cash and equity deal for rights to an early-stage drug developed by Nektar Therapeutics.
