The material biotech company intends to sell its Midkind-based portfolio to Pleiades Pharma in a mixture of cash and equity.
London-based Roquefort Therapeutics, a material biotech company focused on next generation medicines for hard-to-treat cancers, has signed a binding agreement to sell its subsidiary, Lyramid, to Pleiades Pharma, a private company developing a portfolio of novel clinical and pre-clinical medicines, for at least $10 million (£8.1 million).
The deal is expected to close in 30 days.
Roquefort Therapeutics acquired Lyramid from Provelmare Holding in 2021 for £1 million. It owns the company’s intellectual property for Midkine-based therapies, including mRNA, oligonucleotide, and antibody programmes, which have reached pre-clinical development.
The company said in a statement that the deal includes equity in Pleiades and may involve upfront cash payments.
“The sale of Lyramid validates our strategy to acquire, develop and then to realise value through licensing and trade-sale transactions,” says Ajan Reginald, chief executive of Roquefort Therapeutics.
Roquefort Therapeutics, which listed in March 2021, is focused on five novel patent-protected pre-clinical anti-cancer medicines through a combination of partnerships with academic cancer research centres and a laboratory in Stratford-upon-Avon.
On the news, shares in Roquefort Therapeutics jumped 19% to 4.8p.
