Repare Therapeutics has entered an out-licensing agreement with Canadian biotechnology firm DCx Biotherapeutics for discovery platforms and intellectual property (IP).
Repare will obtain $4m in upfront and near-term payments from DCx, along with a 10% common equity position.
This includes certain dilution protection rights. Repare is also qualified for potential upcoming payments related to out-licensing, commercial and clinical milestones, and low-single-digit tiered sales royalties for DCx's specific product development.
20 of Repare’s preclinical research employees will be retained by DCx, which will also acquire lease rights to specific laboratory facilities in Montreal, Canada, and equipment.
Repare has secured the right to appoint a nominee to DCx’s board of directors.
The out-licensed platforms from Repare are the SNIPRx platform, which is validated clinically, early discovery-stage platforms SNIPRx-surf and STEP², and other IP.
Repare Therapeutics CEO, chief financial officer and president Steve Forte stated: “We have taken careful steps to evaluate all aspects of our business to ensure continued value generation, and this out-licensing agreement with DCx for our discovery platforms enables us to further focus on our clinical portfolio and drive cost reductions while maintaining an economic interest in the platform technologies we have developed.
“We look forward to reporting initial data from our two ongoing Phase I clinical trials in the second half of 2025, and continue to evaluate partnering and strategic alternatives across our portfolio assets.”
The SNIPRx-surf platform is designed to detect cell surface targets in tumours or cancer models, utilising gene expression, protein features and a machine learning algorithm.
Repare’s SNIPRx platform has been instrumental in developing targeted therapies for genomic instability and DNA damage repair.
A chemogenomic discovery platform, STEP2, leverages clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-enabled genetic screens with small molecule inhibitors to pinpoint genetic lesions sensitive to these inhibitors.
The company's clinical pipeline encompasses RP-3467, RP-1664 and lunresertib.
DCx Biotherapeutics is backed by Amplitude Ventures.
