Mestag Therapeutics Partners with MSD to Identify Targets for Inflammatory Diseases

Mestag Therapeutics, a biotech firm focusing on fibroblast-immune interactions, has announced a strategic partnership with MSD (known as Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, N.J., USA). The collaboration aims to identify new therapeutic targets for inflammatory diseases. This partnership will leverage Mestag's proprietary Reversing Activated Fibroblast Technology (RAFT) platform, specifically designed to model the role of fibroblasts in human diseases to discover novel drug targets.

In this agreement, Mestag provides MSD with options to license several targets identified through the RAFT platform. MSD will handle the discovery, development, and commercialization of the resulting therapeutics. Mestag will receive an initial payment, access fees, and potential downstream payments amounting to $1.9 billion, contingent upon MSD's options to obtain exclusive licenses.

Mestag's CEO, Susan Hill, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, highlighting the company's foundational insights into fibroblast-immune biology and its robust pipeline of antibody programs. Hill emphasized the significant unmet needs of patients with inflammatory diseases and sees the partnership as a pathway to innovative solutions.

Marc Levesque, MD, PhD, Vice President of Immunology Discovery at MSD, echoed this sentiment, noting the therapeutic potential of targeting activated fibroblasts to modulate immune activity. He anticipates productive collaboration with Mestag to discover new treatment options for fibrosis and inflammatory diseases.

Mestag's approach is rooted in its advanced pipeline of antibodies, including the bispecific antibody MST-0300, which focuses on tertiary lymphoid structures in solid tumors. Another program, M402, targets a stromal checkpoint to reduce activation of specific immune cell subsets in inflammatory diseases. The RAFT platform continues to be instrumental in identifying novel targets for future therapies.

Founded by experts from prestigious institutions such as the University of Oxford and Harvard Medical School, Mestag combines cutting-edge research in inflammatory disease, cancer, computational biology, and fibroblast biology. The company is backed by prominent investors, including SV Health Investors, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Forbion, GV (formerly Google Ventures), and Northpond Ventures.

Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, Mestag gained recognition in 2021 as one of the Fierce 15 innovative biotechnology companies. The firm's mission is to develop transformative treatments for cancer and inflammatory diseases through their unique understanding of fibroblast-immune biology.

As Mestag and MSD embark on this collaborative journey, the focus remains on translating groundbreaking research into effective therapies, addressing the unmet needs of patients with inflammatory conditions. The partnership represents a significant step forward in the quest to harness the therapeutic potential of fibroblast-immune interactions.