Tavros to receive $17.5M upfront, up to $430.5M in milestone payments for initial four programs, and certain royalties over agreement term

Vividion will have rights to opt-in to up to five more targets for up to $482M in additional payments

Partnership to define novel drug targets and biomarkers, in addition to positioning existing compounds

DURHAM, N.C. and SAN DIEGO, Oct. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tavros Therapeutics, Inc., a precision oncology platform company leading the new frontier of targeted therapies exploiting tumors’ genetic vulnerabilities, and Vividion Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company utilizing novel discovery technologies to unlock high value, traditionally undruggable targets with precision therapeutics for devastating cancers and immune disorders, and a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG, today announced the companies have entered into a collaboration agreement to discover or target four oncology targets across an initial five-year term.

Tavros leverages its functional and computational genomics technologies to uncover unique vulnerabilities within tumors to discover novel targets and biomarkers in areas of high unmet clinical need and identify novel clinical positioning strategies for existing molecules.

Under the terms of the agreement, Tavros will receive $17.5 million in a cash upfront payment from Vividion, and is eligible to receive up to $430.5 million in potential future payments based on the achievement of prespecified preclinical, clinical development, and commercial milestones, as well as low-single-digit royalties on sales of certain potential programs. Vividion has options to pursue up to five additional targets with up to $482 million in potential additional future payments.

“The future of cancer treatment lies in the precision targeting of therapies in the optimal clinical settings. This partnership allows Tavros to expand the actionability of our platform into a new target space by pairing our precision oncology platform with Vividion’s unmatched ability to drug the traditionally undruggable,” said Tavros CEO and co-founder Eoin McDonnell, Ph.D. “We’re thrilled to launch our work with Vividion and harness our combined expertise to reach patients with difficult-to-treat cancers by uncovering and drugging the next generation of high-value targets and augmenting the efficacy of emerging compounds.”

“Despite decades of effort, many targets remain inaccessible to traditional small molecule drugs, and many others have uncertain relevance to disease,” said Vividion Therapeutics CEO Jeffrey Hatfield. “This collaboration brings together two orthogonal, highly innovative and synergistic approaches to drug discovery that will address both of these challenges. Vividion has the ability to find and drug previously unknown, or cryptic, functional binding pockets on oncology and immunology targets of high interest, while Tavros has the potential to uncover previously unknown synthetic vulnerabilities or dependencies in deadly tumor cells. We believe this powerful combination of leading-edge technologies has the potential to deliver multiple breakthrough discoveries for cancer patients in need.”

About Tavros Therapeutics
Tavros Therapeutics is a precision oncology platform company leading the new frontier of targeted therapies exploiting tumors’ genetic vulnerabilities. Modular, scalable, and fast, the company’s next-generation, bi-directional synthetic lethality platform can precisely and directly identify the paired genetic interactions that form the basis for breakthrough targets and first-in-class cancer drugs. Cutting-edge functional genomics and computational analysis accelerate the discovery of de-risked, druggable targets with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes, minimizing toxicity, and quickening development in defined patient subsets. Strategic partnerships with Zentalis Pharmaceuticals and Vividion Therapeutics, a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG, have validated the platform and expanded the company’s clinical impact. Tavros is also leveraging its proprietary platform and map of useful synthetic lethal relationships to build a highly innovative pipeline of category-defining small-molecule drug candidates. Based in Durham, N.C., management is comprised of successful serial entrepreneurs with deep expertise in functional genomics, tumor genetics, and drug discovery. To learn more, visit www.tavrostx.com.

About Vividion
Vividion Therapeutics, Inc., a wholly owned and independently operated subsidiary of Bayer AG acquired in August 2021, is a biopharmaceutical company utilizing novel discovery technologies to unlock high value, traditionally undruggable targets with precision therapeutics for devastating cancers and immune disorders. The company’s platform has enabled it to identify hundreds of previously unknown functional pockets on well-validated protein targets implicated in a wide range of diseases, while simultaneously identifying compounds from its proprietary covalent chemistry library that interact in a highly selective manner with those pockets. The company is leveraging its proprietary chemoproteomic platform to advance a diversified pipeline of highly selective small molecule therapeutics targeting high value, traditionally undruggable targets in oncology and immunology. For more information, please visit www.vividion.com.

About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2021, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 44.1 billion euros. R&D expenses, before special items, amounted to 5.3 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

Media Contacts

For Tavros:
Heather Anderson
6 Degrees
+1 (919) 827-5539
handerson@6degreespr.com

For Vividion Therapeutics:
Patricia Allen
+1 (858) 345-4690
patty@vividion.com