Jnana Therapeutics Announces Second Collaboration with Roche to Address Challenging-to-Drug Targets in Cancer, Immune-Mediated and Neurological Diseases

Jnana to leverage its RAPID chemoproteomics platform to discover novel small molecule drugs directed to targets across a diverse range of target classes in cancer, immune-mediated and neurological diseases.

Jnana will receive $50 million upfront, significant near-term milestone payments, and is eligible to receive potential future milestone payments exceeding $2 billion.

BOSTON, Nov. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jnana Therapeutics, a biotechnology company leveraging its next-generation chemoproteomics platform to discover medicines for challenging-to-drug targets, today announced the company has entered into a second collaboration and license agreement with Roche (SIX:RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) for the discovery of small molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer, immune-mediated and neurological diseases. The collaboration covers multiple targets from a diverse range of target classes to address diseases with high unmet need.

"We are excited to partner with Roche, one of the largest healthcare companies and a strong collaborator, for a second time," said Joanne Kotz, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Jnana Therapeutics. "Roche has been a valuable strategic partner and we are proud that our success to date has led to the opportunity to broaden our work together in immune-mediated and neurological diseases, as well as to extend our collaboration into cancer."

Under the terms of the agreement, Jnana will receive an upfront payment of $50 million, significant near-term milestone payments, and additional potential future payments that could exceed $2 billion, as well as tiered royalties. Jnana will conduct discovery and preclinical activities against multiple cancer, immune-mediated and neurological disease targets, and Roche will be responsible for development and commercialization of any resulting products.

"We have made great progress in our existing partnership with Roche, which is focused on targeting SLC metabolite transporters, and have also made exciting progress in our internal pipeline against an array of target classes including transcription factors," said Joel C. Barrish, Ph.D., co-founder, President and CSO of Jnana Therapeutics. "We are delighted to now bring the full power of our RAPID platform to our second partnership with Roche as we advance a diverse set of compelling therapeutic targets that have proven challenging to drug."

"We have been impressed by Jnana's team and their RAPID drug discovery platform, as part of our first collaboration that focused on SLC metabolite transporters," said James Sabry, Global Head of Roche Pharma Partnering. "As fostering truly symbiotic partnerships with our partners where we learn and grow together is a key focus of our overall partnering strategy, we are excited to now build on our successful existing collaboration with Jnana to address new target classes as we expand our efforts to discover new medicines for patients with cancer, immune and neurological diseases."

Jnana Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging its next-generation chemoproteomics RAPID platform to discover medicines for highly validated, challenging-to-drug targets to treat diseases with high unmet need. Jnana is focused on developing first- and best-in-class therapies to treat a wide range of diseases, including rare diseases, immune-mediated diseases and cancer. Jnana's wholly owned lead program is a potential first-in-class oral approach, targeting an allosteric site on the phenylalanine transporter SLC6A19, for the treatment of phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic metabolic disease. Located in Boston, Jnana brings together scientific leaders in small molecule drug discovery and development, a highly experienced management team and the backing of leading life science investors Bain Capital Life Sciences, RA Capital Management, Polaris Partners, Versant Ventures, Avalon Ventures, Pfizer Ventures and AbbVie Ventures. For more information, please visit www.jnanatx.com and follow us on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

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SOURCE Jnana Therapeutics