Covant Therapeutics, an innovative covalent drug discovery company, has entered into an exclusive research collaboration and worldwide licensing agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim covering Covant’s ADAR1 program. The companies jointly aim to develop a novel small molecule immunotherapy targeting ADAR1 to transform the lives of cancer patients.
Covant significantly accelerates drug discovery for challenging targets like ADAR1 by using its industry-leading platform, which combines high-throughput chemoproteomics-based screening in the native setting with structural proteomics. Covant is systematically applying its platform to discover novel, high-value first-in-class and best-in-class therapeutics.
The Covant-Boehringer Ingelheim collaboration seeks to create an ADAR1 inhibitor that could be used in combination with other immunotherapies to increase their efficacy. To date, existing immunotherapies have revolutionized cancer treatment but only work in a minority of patients. Inhibiting ADAR1 has the potential to address this challenge by transforming “cold” tumors into “hot” tumors, which have more immune cells present in the tumor micro-environment.
“ADAR1 is an exciting immuno-oncology target with significant therapeutic potential,” said Lamine Mbow, Global Head of Cancer Immunology & Immune Modulation, Boehringer Ingelheim. “We are committed to transforming the lives of cancer patients by delivering meaningful advances with the ultimate goal of curing a range of cancers. By partnering with Covant’s exceptional scientific team and powerful platform, we aim to bring next-generation immunotherapies to cancer patients.”
“We look forward to working with the scientists at Boehringer Ingelheim to advance our program against ADAR1, a key, hard-to-drug immuno-oncology target,” said Dr. Ivan Cornella, Chief Scientific Officer of Covant. “Boehringer Ingelheim has a leading oncology and immuno-oncology pipeline and their decision to work with Covant is a testament to the strength of our team and approach.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Covant will be responsible for the discovery of ADAR1 small molecule inhibitors. In turn, Covant will receive an upfront payment of $10 million and will be eligible for up to $471 million in additional milestone payments along with tiered royalties on global sales.