Novartis forks out $80 million for a pre-clinical NASH candidate

California, USA-based clinical-stage biotech Pliant Therapeutics today announced a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX) covering the development and commercialization of Pliant’s pre-clinical product candidate, PLN-1474 and up to three additional integrin targets.

PLN-1474 is an internally discovered small molecule selective inhibitor of integrin αVβ1, currently being developed for the treatment of liver fibrosis associated with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

“Our research continues to generate compelling preclinical evidence that supports the advancement of PLN-1474 as a clinical candidate and validates our approach of evaluating αVβ1 integrin inhibition to treat advanced liver fibrosis associated with NASH,” said Dr Bernard Coulie, president and chief executive of Pliant Therapeutics. “Pairing Pliant’s leading integrin biology and drug discovery capabilities with Novartis, a world-leader with one of the broadest pipelines investigating mono and combination therapies for liver diseases including NASH, will support our goal of developing novel therapies for fibrotic diseases and potentially bring meaningful treatment options to patients,” he added.