Vor Bio is paying RemeGen $10 million upfront in cash and issuing warrants valued at approximately $46 million for rights to RC298 outside Greater China, adding a long-acting drug candidate to its BAFF/APRIL franchise.
Boston-based Vor is focused on telitacicept, a BAFF/APRIL inhibitor that is in phase 3 development for generalized myasthenia gravis and Sjögren’s disease. Vor licensed the asset from RemeGen last year for $45 million upfront, resurrecting itself one month after laying off 95% of its staff and pursuing strategic alternatives.
Vor has returned to RemeGen to license a follow-up drug candidate. Like telitacicept, RC298 is designed to inhibit BAFF and APRIL, thereby reducing autoreactive B cells and autoantibody production to treat autoimmune diseases.
RC298 is differentiated by its dosing potential. Telitacicept is administered weekly via subcutaneous injection. Vor has yet to report the dosing frequency for RC298 but described the asset as a long-acting candidate designed to enable extended dosing intervals. Reducing dosing frequency could open up opportunities in additional autoimmune diseases and treatment settings.
The drug candidate is the “next step in our broader campaign to create opportunities with a long-acting, next generation molecule across new diseases and treatment settings,” Vor CEO Jean-Paul Kress, M.D., said in a statement. Kress reiterated that “telitacicept remains our clinical foundation and near-term priority.”
In addition to the $10 million cash payment, the biotech is giving RemeGen pre-funded warrants to purchase 2.3 million of its shares. The warrants are worth approximately $46 million, based on Vor’s closing share price on Nov. 11. RemeGen could also receive up to $300 million in development milestones, including $20 million payable upon the achievement of initial clinical development and technology transfer goals.
RC298 is in IND-enabling development. Vor expects RemeGen to submit an investigational new drug application in China in the first half of 2027. RemeGen will lead preclinical and phase 1 development in China. After phase 1, Vor will handle subsequent clinical trials, regulatory activities and commercialization outside Greater China.