Kineta has found a new home for deals with Genentech and Merck & Co. Tidying up the portfolio ahead of its merger with TuHURA Biosciences, the biotech has agreed to sell the deals to an investment firm, offload a pain prospect to Pacira Pharmaceuticals and scrap its pact with GigaGen.
TuHURA struck a deal to buy Kineta in December for $15 million upfront, including $5 million it paid last summer to seal an exclusivity agreement. Florida-based TuHURA is buying Kineta to get its hands on a phase 2 checkpoint inhibitor. After agreeing to the deal, Kineta said it was continuing to look for deals for its other assets.
The list of assets includes deals with Genentech and Merck. Genentech paid $5 million upfront in 2018 to secure rights to small molecule modulators from Kineta. The deal featured $96 million in milestones. The partners extended a collaboration in 2020 to support early-phase development of a pain prospect.
Kineta inherited the Merck collaboration when it merged with Yumanity Therapeutics in 2022. Merck picked up preclinical amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal lobar dementia drug candidates from Yumanity in 2020. Kineta received a $5 million milestone from Merck in 2023, at which time there was up to $255 million in payments still to come.
HCRX Investments Holdco, a subsidiary of the investment firm HealthCare Royalty Partners, has struck a deal with Kineta. The deal covers Kineta’s involvement in the licensing deals with Genentech and Merck, plus its part in a cystic fibrosis pact with Fair Therapeutics.
Kineta disclosed the deal with HCRX alongside agreements for two drug development programs. The biotech has agreed to sell the pain prospect KCP506 to Pacira for $450,000 upfront. Kineta began a phase 2 trial of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist in 2020.
Finally, Kineta agreed to terminate its option and license pact with GigaGen. The deal gave Kineta rights to a CD27 drug program. By terminating the deal, Kienta is returning all rights to GigaGen and freeing itself from $180,000 in fees in the process.