Quince Sells Legacy Protease Inhibitor Portfolio

 Quince Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: QNCX), a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative precision therapeutics targeting debilitating and rare diseases, announced the sale of the company’s legacy small molecule protease inhibitor portfolio, including COR588, COR388, COR852, and COR803, pursuant to an asset purchase agreement with Lighthouse Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an entity co-founded by Casey Lynch, former chief executive officer of Quince’s predecessor company Cortexyme.

Lead compound COR588 is a selective, oral small molecule inhibitor of lysine-gingipain that is Phase 2 ready for further evaluation in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease with mild to moderate dementia and biomarker evidence of P. gingivalis infection. Precision targeting of gingipains with small molecule inhibitors represents an innovative therapeutic approach to addressing P. gingivalis, a bacterium associated with dementia and other degenerative and inflammatory disorders.

Highlights of the asset purchase agreement include:

• Lighthouse gains exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Quince’s legacy protease inhibitor portfolio globally;

• Protease inhibitor portfolio includes lysine- and arginine-gingipain inhibitors COR588, COR388, COR852, in addition to COR803, which is a coronavirus 3CLpro targeted program with demonstrated in vivo efficacy;

• Potential for Quince to receive up to $150 million in regulatory and commercial milestones payments on a product-by-product basis, subject to conditions in the agreement;

• Potential tiered royalty rates on a product-by-product basis ranging from high single-digit to mid-teens of annual net sales related to the two existing clinical stage programs, and low single-digit royalties for the preclinical programs, subject to conditions in the agreement;

• Share of sublicense income or acquisition value of clinical and preclinical assets on a product-by-product basis; and

• Quince to receive a 7.5% ownership stake of Lighthouse Common stock with anti-dilution through the first $10 million raised.

Quince expects to benefit from the reduction of more than $500,000 of annualized expenses associated with the operational and financial support of these protease inhibitor assets.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/quince-therapeutics-completes-sale-legacy-130000851.html