As humans, we acknowledge that our ideas do have a tendency of losing their edge over time; therefore we are always trying to conceive new ones along the way. Now, when you have such a setup in place, you end up raising your floor rather significantly over time, and as you would expect, this brings a host of by-products to the table. Talk about the by-products we have seen so far, each one has impacted our lives under some capacity or the other, but if we are being honest, none of them ever got anywhere near to technology’s level. Technology’s mark on the modern world is massive, because thus far, it’s the only creation that managed to scale up the entire spectrum on its own. The achievement, in fact, becomes even bigger once you start noticing what the stated upgrade did for a highly-crucial sector like healthcare. The healthcare sector was literally running on fumes by the time technology arrived. Nevertheless, the creation luckily pulled off a quick turnaround. This altered the healthcare trajectory beyond recognition, except a recent acquisition suggests that there is still a lot more reshaping to be done.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is officially set to acquire Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotech with a different approach of getting the immune system to fight cancer, in a deal worth over $250 million. According to certain reports, Regeneron will fork out $10.50 for each Checkmate share, and as far as the timeline is concerned, both the companies expect to complete the takeover over the next few months. With the latest pickup, the New York-based Regeneron gives its pipeline a unique ability to focus on activating the innate immune system, which is responsible for our initial defense against any pathogens. Checkmate’s leading drug candidate in vidutolimod achieves that by stimulating Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), a receptor expressed in immune cells. Using nucleotide to initiate the stimulation, the drug notably relies upon T Cells to attack and dispel a wide variety of tumors.
“As we continue to advance and expand our research efforts in immuno-oncology, the acquisition of Checkmate will add a promising new modality to Regeneron’s toolkit of potential approaches for difficult-to-treat cancers,” said Leonard Schleifer, president and CEO at Regeneron. “The unique combination of a differentiated Toll-like receptor 9 with other antibody-based oncology agents may result in increased clinical benefit and provide new treatment options for patients in need.”
At present, vidutolimod is in a Phase 2 melanoma study, which is purposed around assessing the drug when used in conjunction with Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo. Beyond that, Checkmate has also tested it as a monotherapy in patients, who saw their condition get worse despite treatment with an immunotherapy that blocks PD-1. Hence, Regeneron now has the perfect alternative for patients who might not respond to its main cancer drug in Libtayo, a PD-1 inhibitor.
