Novartis Doses First Patient in Phase 2 Sjögren's Trial, Triggering $50M Payment to Monte Rosa

Product / TechM&A · Partnership
โดย Insider Monkey·USCH·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Monte Rosa Therapeutics announced on September 8 that partner Novartis has dosed the first patient in a Phase 2 trial of the VAV1-targeted drug MRT-6160, also known as DDY391, in people with Sjögren's disease, triggering a $50 million milestone payment to Monte Rosa and marking the first step in a collaboration that could eventually be worth up to $2.1 billion. Novartis is footing the entire bill for the study, which will track participants for as long as a year of treatment and compare the drug against placebo across multiple sites to select the right dose before a Phase 3 program begins, and Monte Rosa stands to collect further payments each time a new Phase 2 study opens for MRT-6160 in other immune conditions. In an earlier Phase 1 trial, the molecule knocked down VAV1 protein levels by over 90% in patients' T cells and calmed key markers of inflammation without triggering any serious side effects. Monte Rosa also reported on August 6 that enrollment and dosing had wrapped up in its GFORCE-1 study of MRT-8102 in people with elevated cardiovascular risk, with results due later in 2026, and that its MODeFIRe-1 study pairing MRT-2359 with the prostate cancer drug apalutamide is up and running, backed by $626 million in cash, equivalents, and marketable securities as of June 30 that management says can fund operations into 2029. The progress has come at a cost: collaboration revenue fell to $9.0 million in the second quarter of 2026 from $23.2 million a year earlier, research spending rose to $48.0 million from $30.7 million, administrative costs climbed to $10.1 million from $8.1 million, and the quarterly net loss ballooned to $43.4 million, more than triple the $12.3 million loss in the same period of 2025. Hedge fund ownership edged up to 36 funds from 35, while 21.52% of the float is sold short, an unusual pairing that suggests the market has not settled on whether the milestone cash flow outweighs the widening losses.

Impact on stocks 2

Biotech & Genomic Medicine▲ · 2 stocks
Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc
GLUE
▲ PositiveCapitalrelevance

Novartis dosing the first Phase 2 patient triggers a $50M milestone payment to Monte Rosa, part of a collaboration worth up to $2.1B.

Novartis AG
NOVN
▲ PositiveTechnologyrelevance

Novartis is funding and advancing the Phase 2 trial of VAV1-targeted MRT-6160/DDY391 in Sjögren's disease after promising Phase 1 data.

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