Archive for the ‘Forma Therapeutics’ Category

Jan
10

Forma scores another Big Pharma deal in $700M J&J cancer pact

Posted under Blog, Boehringer Ingelheim, Companies, Diagnostics, Forma Therapeutics, Funding, Janssen, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Novartis, Pharmaceuticals, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Just days after inking an $815 million cancer drug discovery pact with Boehringer Ingelheim, Forma Therapeutics agreed to put its fast-growing small molecule ops to work for J&J's Janssen in a $700 million deal. This new pact, which focuses on tumor metabolism, also allows Forma to hang on to the North American commercial rights on one of the programs it develops--adding some long-term upside for the biotech. The announcement did not reveal how much Janssen is paying upfront.

"This collaboration will enable a broad chemical biology approach to understanding the unique biology underlying cancer metabolism," Kenneth Bair, Ph.D., senior vice president and head of research and development at Forma.

The partnership also marks another big step for Forma, a 2011 Fierce 15 company which has been rapidly building up a broad range of deals with biopharma companies as it hones its skills on protein-protein interactions, tumor metabolism and epigenetics. With new facilities in the Boston area and a relatively big discovery outfit in a staff of about 100, Forma CEO Steve Tregay has been laying a foundation for a biotech company which can rely on a steady stream of partnership dollars to pay the bills while offering some early returns to its investors.

"This collaboration with Janssen Biotech further strengthens our drug discovery capabilities and also allows us to look to the future with an opportunity to maintain North American rights, which is a key element of our strategy to create long-term shareholder value within Forma," said Tregay in today's release.

You can expect more deals from Forma and Tregay, who specialized in pacts for Novartis ($NVS).

- here's the press release

Special Report: Forma Therapeutics - 2011 Fierce 15

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Jan
05

Fast-growing Forma grabs $815M cancer discovery deal with Boehringer

Posted under Blog, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cancer Drugs, Companies, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Diagnostics, epigenetics, Forma Therapeutics, Funding, Genentech, Medical Devices, Medical Supply, Pharmaceuticals, small molecules, Startups, Universities, Videos by John Carroll

Forma Therapeutics has nabbed an $815 million deal--$65 million of that in an upfront payment and the rest in pre-commercial milestones--to direct its growing drug discovery engine to new small molecule cancer therapeutics for Boehringer Ingelheim.

The pact marks another coup for Forma, a 2011 Fierce 15 company which has built up an extensive R&D operation designed to serve up new programs to a hungry set of biopharma companies around the globe. In this case, Forma plans to focus on multiple oncology targets over a four-year period. And they've set out to crack some tough cancer cases.

Since getting set up, CEO Steve Tregay tells FierceBiotech, Forma has been building up its skills in tumor metabolism, protein-protein interactions and, more recently, epigenetics, allowing the R&D side of the business to approach a single target along multiple pathways. Forma has about 100 staffers now--a big group by biotech standards--and the company just completed a move into 45,000 square feet of space in Watertown.

For Tregay, who once worked deals for Novartis ($NVS), this new pact also marks the evolution of the company into more drug discovery work as it develops its own pipeline. "We'll screen over 30 targets this year," he notes, and the company is gaining a reputation for fast, efficient work with a range of pharma outfits that includes industry leaders like Genentech and Cubist.

The Genentech deal included some unusual terms, including a new approach to paying out the returns Forma gets from its partner to its investors. And Tregay says that this new deal also has some flexibility built into it in terms of how it can use the money.