Three weeks after reeling in a $19 million venture round, Ascent Therapeutics announced a licensing option deal through the Novartis Option Fund worth up to $200 million in fees and milestones. Ascent says it is developing a new class of biologics targeting G-protein coupled receptors with its Pepducin technology platform and will develop Peducin drug candidates for a specific GPCR target.
"Novartis is one of the industry leaders in developing and marketing a broad range of drugs that target GPCRs," said CEO Frederick Jones, M.D. "The option fee will allow us to build out our Pepducin platform more quickly and completely."
"This exciting technology represents an entirely novel mechanism to disrupt GPCR signal transduction from the inside surface of the cell, allowing Pepducin drug candidates to be developed for a much wider range of serious illnesses than previous GPCR therapeutics," says Lauren Silverman, managing director of the Novartis Option Fund.
Ascent reportedly garnered $19 million in its Series A on November 18, with the Novartis Option Fund joining Healthcare Ventures and TVM in the round. The company is using research originating from Tufts to go after new therapies for inflammation, cancer, CNS disorders and cardiovascular disease.
- check out Ascent's release
- read the story from Mass High Tech