Tensha Therapeutics to be acquired by Roche for upfront $115 million cash

Privately-held US firm Tensha Therapeutics on Monday said it will be acquired by the Swiss drug maker Roche (SIX: ROG) for an upfront cash payment of $115 million to gain access to the company’s early trial stage product, TEN-010, to treat cancer.

Under the terms of the agreement, Tensha’s shareholders will also receive additional contingent payments of up to $420 million based on the achievement of certain predetermined clinical and regulatory milestones.  The transaction is anticipated to close in the first quarter of 2016.

James Bradner, founder of Tensha, said: “BET proteins are a highly promising class of therapeutic targets in cancer. BET inhibitors function as targeted therapy in rare cancers with BET gene rearrangements (NUT midline carcinoma), and in common cancers as a means of inhibiting the function of the master growth control genes, such as MYC.”