Roivant Sciences is in talks to sell a promising bowel disease candidate to Roche in a deal that could be valued at more than $7 billion, says WSJ in an exclusive report.
WSJ, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the sale could be announced in the coming days.
The drug, RVT-3101, is a once-monthly subcutaneously administered anti-TL1A antibody. Telavant, a subsidiary of Roivant, is developing the potential best-in-class and first-in-class subcutaneous therapy in a phase 3 ulcerative colitis trial and phase 2 Crohn’s disease trial. Potential patients also include those with a prospectively defined biomarker who may benefit from a precision approach utilizing RVT-3101.
Pfizer and Roivant inked a deal last year to form the new subsidiary (now Telavant) to develop and commercialize the drug, which was originally discovered by Pfizer. The treatment targets both inflammatory and fibrotic pathways by inhibiting TL1A, which has been shown to modulate the location and severity of inflammation and fibrosis by stimulating TH1 and TH17 pathways, in addition to activating fibroblasts. This means that RVT-3101 has the potential to provide greater efficacy by hitting multiple inflammatory pathways as well as fibrotic pathways.
Roivant focuses on acquiring drugs stalled in development, creating subsidiaries to advance them into commercialization. It was started by Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has since stepped down to focus on his campaign.
