Roche is set to acquire US biotech firm 89bio in a deal valued at up to $3.5bn. The move will add a promising late-stage therapy for Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH) to its pipeline.
The acquisition highlights Roche’s ambition to grow its presence in cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases, an area where patient need continues to outpace available treatments.
89bio’s lead drug candidate is an experimental treatment, which is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring protein designed to reduce both inflammation and fibrosis in the liver. It is currently being studied in patients with moderate and severe fibrosis caused by MASH, as well as those who have progressed to cirrhosis. No approved therapies are currently available for the condition.
Roche sees the treatment as a potential best-in-class option for patients. “With its combined anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory mechanism,” said Thomas Schinecker, CEO, Roche Group, the treatment “could potentially offer best-in-disease efficacy for all moderate to severe MASH patients”.
The deal also gives Roche room to explore new treatment approaches, particularly the possibility of combining the candidate with other drugs such as incretins, which are already being developed across its cardiovascular and metabolic portfolio. This strategy could allow the company to target multiple aspects of metabolic disease at once.
Once the transaction is completed, 89bio’s employees will join Roche’s Pharmaceuticals Division.
