Incyte has outlaid up to $2bn to acquire Star Therapeutics-owned subsidiary, Vega Therapeutics – adding a late-stage candidate to its haematology portfolio.
For an upfront sum of $1.25bn, with additional payments of up to $750m depending on the achievement of sales milestones, Incyte will secure the rights to Vega’s novel bleeding disorder therapy, VGA039, which is currently being evaluated in the pivotal Phase III VIVID-6 study (NCT07115004) for von Willebrand disease (VWD).
Vega has designed the self-administered, subcutaneous therapy to modulate Protein S, which generally helps prevent excessive blood clotting in the body. By inhibiting the protein’s ability to act as a cofactor across certain coagulation cascades, the drug can both promote platelet attachment and enhance the deposition of fibrous proteins, which Vega says can help restore the blood clotting process in patients with “several bleeding disorders, including all types of VWD”.
While Vega is primarily investigating VGA039, otherwise known as latarcibart, in VWD, the company is also weighing up the drug's potential in other undisclosed bleeding disorders. These efforts currently remain in the preclinical stage.
According to Star’s founder and CEO, Adam Rosenthal, Incyte will now advance VGA039, which could see the therapy join the VWD market primarily populated by intravenous (IV), factor-targeting therapies – including Takeda’s Vonvendi (von Willebrand factor (recombinant)), which secured a label expansion to the paediatric patient population back in September 2025, and Octapharma USA’s Wilate (antihemophilic factor (human) + von Willebrand factor complex (human)).
Currently, regulators have approved only one subcutaneous therapy for VWD: a selective vasopressin 2 (V2) receptor agonist, desmopressin, which clinicians commonly use as a prophylactic treatment in the clinical setting, according to guidance published in the journal, Therapeutic Advances in Hematology.
VGA039’s dosing edge
According to a statement from Incyte, VGA039’s monthly dosing regimen could also set it apart from the crowd in the VWD market, as it could hold the potential to “meaningfully improve convenience and quality of life” for patients who currently rely on frequent IV infusions.
Incyte’s CEO, Bill Meury, added that VGA039’s first-in-class profile, as well as its “compelling early data”, could present the company with a potential growth driver opportunity in haematology.
If approved, VGA039 would join myelofibrosis therapy, Jakafi (ruxolitinib), in Incyte’s haematological medicines portfolio, which the company markets within the US. Jakafi will start losing its patent protection in 2028. Novartis holds the license to ruxolitinib outside of America, where the Swiss pharma giant markets it under the name Jakavi.
