Mission expands deal with Pfizer and raises $15 million

UK-based drug discovery and development company Mission Therapeutics, which is focused on selectively inhibiting deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs), today announced that it has raised $15 million in equity investment.

The round was led by existing investor Pfizer Ventures, the venture capital arm of US pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE). Mission and Pfizer have also expanded their relationship by entering into an evaluation and option agreement for DUB target validation.

Pfizer Ventures has been an investor in Mission Therapeutics since 2013. Today it made a further equity investment into the company, contributing a super pro rata amount. All other existing investors within Mission joined the round on a pro rata basis. No further financial details have been disclosed.

The new capital will support development of Mission’s world-leading DUB platform, as well as growth of its pipeline of DUB inhibitor programs.

Pfizer collaboration

DUBs have attracted significant interest as potential drug targets. Playing an integral role in protein homeostasis, this large family of enzymes is involved in diverse cellular processes and many disease pathologies.

Under the terms of the evaluation and option agreement, Pfizer will access specific DUB inhibitors from Mission’s platform and test these compounds in phenotypic screens to validate promising drug targets. Pfizer will then have the option to negotiate target exclusivity for each of the DUBs of interest.

The agreement does not include any of Mission’s own lead DUB programs, such as USP30. Mission also has a collaboration on DUB inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases with AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV).

“Since our initial investment in Mission seven years ago, the company has grown tremendously and the depth of its scientific expertise and capability has grown alongside it. We are proud to expand our relationship with the company and our scientists are looking forward to a successful collaboration in this important area of research,” commented Dr Denis Patrick, managing partner at Pfizer Ventures and a member of Mission’s board of directors.