DISCO Pharmaceuticals has announced an exclusive license agreement with Amgen to advance novel therapeutic candidates addressing a target that was mapped on the surface of a cancer cell by DISCO’s proprietary platform.
Under the terms of the agreement, DISCO will be eligible to receive up to $618m total potential deal value plus royalties. Amgen will receive exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize the resulting programmes directed against the target.
“This agreement demonstrates the potential of our surfaceome mapping platform technology to uncover cancer cell surface targets with meaningful clinical potential,” said Mark Manfredi, CEO of DISCO Pharmaceuticals.
“The collaboration with Amgen enables us to potentially translate these biological insights into innovative therapies and accelerate our shared goal of delivering better outcomes for patients.”
“Joining forces with a recognized global leader in advancing innovative cancer treatments underscores the potential inherent in our technology to go beyond traditional cancer targets to deliver novel impactful medicines for high need cancer indications,” said Ajla Hrle, CBO of DISCO Pharmaceuticals.
DISCO’s platform combines cell-surface proteomics with advanced protein community mapping to identify previously inaccessible target pairs and surface-bound protein communities. These discoveries are used to guide the development of highly specific, surfaceome-directed therapies such as bispecific antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and T-cell engagers. The company’s internal pipeline is currently focused on programmes in small cell lung cancer, and microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer.
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