Roche To Acquire Carmot Therapeutics For $2.7 Bln Cash Plus Milestone Payments

Swiss drug major Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) announced Monday that it has signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire Carmot Therapeutics, Inc., a privately owned US clinical-stage biotechnology company, for $2.7 billion upfront in cash at the closing of the transaction. The deal also includes additional payments of up to $400 million depending on the achievement of certain milestones.

The closing of the transaction is currently expected to take place in the first quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.

Berkeley, California -based Carmot holds three clinical stage assets with best-in-class potential in obesity and diabetes.

Upon closing of the transaction, Carmot, along with its around 70 employees, will join Roche’s Pharmaceuticals Division.

Roche will obtain access to Carmot’s current R&D portfolio including all clinical and pre-clinical assets.

Roche noted that Carmot Therapeutics’s R&D portfolio of clinical stage incretins include lead asset CT-388, a Phase-2 ready dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist for the treatment of obesity in patients with and without type 2 diabetes.

CT-996, a once-daily oral, is a small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist currently in Phase-1 intended to treat obesity in patients with and without type 2 diabetes.

Further, CT-868, a Phase-2, once-daily subcutaneous injectable, is a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist intended for the treatment of type 1 diabetes patients with overweight or obesity.

They have great potential to treat obesity, diabetes and potentially other diseases both as standalone medicines and in combination with Roche’s in-house assets.

Roche will also have exclusive access to Carmot’s innovative Chemotype Evolution discovery platform in metabolism to further strengthen its R&D efforts and portfolio across cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Thomas Schinecker, CEO Roche Group, said, “Obesity is a heterogeneous disease, which contributes to many other diseases that together comprise a significant health burden worldwide. By combining Carmot’s portfolio with programs in our Pharmaceuticals pipeline and our Diagnostics expertise and portfolio of products across cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, we are aiming to improve the standard of care and positively impact patients’ lives.”

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