Ipsen is paying $450 million upfront to buy U.S.-based Kartos Therapeutics for a phase 3-stage blood cancer drug designed to improve on Jakafi treatment.
The acquisition of Kartos gives the French biopharma access to an oral MDM2 inhibitor called navtemadlin. The drug is aimed at restoring the function of p53, a critical tumor suppressor in myelofibrosis.
The p53 protein is already well known for its ability to protect against cancer by preventing DNA-damaged cells from replicating. Last year, PMV Pharmaceuticals reported a 43% response rate in a mid-phase ovarian cancer trial for its p53 reactivator rezatapopt.
When it comes to myelofibrosis, the current standard of care is Incyte’s blockbuster JAK inhibitor Jakafi, which is marketed by Novartis outside of the U.S. Ipsen is hoping to target navtemadlin at the “significant proportion” of patients who discontinue Jakafi treatment due to a suboptimal response.
Kartos launched back in 2018 as a vehicle to develop navtemadlin. The Redwood, California- and Bellevue, Washington-based biotech has already road-tested the drug as an add-on treatment to Jakafi in a phase 1b/2 trial back in 2023 that demonstrated that among 19 patients who had previously experienced a suboptimal response to Incyte’s drug, 42% achieved at least a 25% reduction in spleen volume at Week 24, 32% achieved at least a 35% reduction in spleen volume, and 32% achieved a total symptom score improvement of at least 50%.
Based on these data, Kartos took navtemadlin into an ongoing phase 3 trial that aims to enroll over 600 patients with intermediate and high-risk TP53 myelofibrosis who have already experienced a suboptimal response to Jakafi. A topline readout is pencilled in for next year.
Ipsen CEO David Loew said in a June 29 release that the company is “excited by the potential of navtemadlin to define a new treatment paradigm for patients with myelofibrosis who have a suboptimal response to current standard of care.”
Loew suggested that navtemadlin could be available as a “new therapeutic option” for these patients “as early as 2028.”
Along with the $450 million upfront payment, Ipsen has also signed off on potential milestone payments to Kartos that could reach $1.3 billion, including a “significant regulatory approval milestone.”
Buying Kartos is the latest installment in Ipsen’s ongoing push to pad out its pipeline. When it comes to oncology, this has involved picking up antibody-drug conjugates from Foreseen Biotechnology and Simcere Zaiming, as well as buying next-gen immuno-oncology biotech ImCheck Therapeutics.
In an interview in May for Fierce’s The Top Line podcast, Ipsen’s Head of R&D Christelle Huguet, Ph.D., explained how the biopharma’s business development strategy is based on the assumption that the “best innovation comes mostly from outside” the company.
“We can source innovation and bring to the table our strengths and know-how that is in translational, clinical, regulatory and commercial,” Huguet added. “So when I think about sourcing innovation, I think Ipsen is the accelerator.”
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