Roche, a leading pharmaceutical company, has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Carmot Therapeutics, a US-based biotechnology company focused on developing therapeutics for metabolic diseases. The acquisition includes three clinical stage assets with best-in-class potential in obesity and diabetes. The lead asset, CT-388, is a Phase-2 ready dual GLP-1/GIP agonist for the treatment of obesity and its comorbidities. Roche will pay a purchase price of $2.7 billion upfront and additional milestone payments of up to $400 million. This acquisition will provide Roche with access to Carmot's R&D portfolio, including clinical and preclinical assets, and its innovative Chemotype Evolution discovery platform in metabolism. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024.
In other news, ROME Therapeutics has appointed Heike Keilhack, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Keilhack brings over 20 years of experience in cancer biology and immunology to the company. She has led target validation and preclinical efforts for multiple first-in-class therapeutics at small biotech and large pharmaceutical companies. ROME is developing breakthrough medicines for serious diseases by harnessing the power of the dark genome. The company is preparing its lead program, a novel LINE-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitor for autoimmune disease, for clinical entry. Dr. Keilhack joins ROME from Ribon Therapeutics, where she led the research and development of two PARP inhibitors. She was also involved in building Ribon's research organization and contributed to fundraising and business development. Prior to Ribon, Dr. Keilhack held roles at Epizyme and Merck. She earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School. ROME Therapeutics is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
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