Even as Bayer continues cutting costs across its conglomerate, it’s still making some small R&D deals to add to its pipeline.
On Wednesday, the German multinational pharma and NextRNA Therapeutics announced they’ll team up on two cancer programs. NextRNA can get up to $547 million if all the milestones are reached, and the deal also included an undisclosed upfront payment.
The deal comes amid a massive restructuring as Bayer seeks to reduce in-house bureaucracy that has included 3,200 job cuts, including 2,500 management roles, CEO Bill Anderson said earlier this month. It’s aiming to create €2 billion in cost savings by 2026.
Part of Bayer’s reorg is centered around fixing its R&D approach to move early-stage assets more quickly through the pipeline. Anderson effectively swore off big deals for late-stage compounds, saying in March that “we don’t have $10 billion to go make a Phase 3 purchase.”
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Dominique VerhelleFor NextRNA, the deal marks the company’s first major pharma partner. The startup launched out of stealth in 2022 with $56 million in seed and Series A financing and a mission to go after long non-coding RNA, or RNA that doesn’t translate into proteins. A handful of other biotechs are also conducting research in this area, colloquially known as the “dark genome.”
Details about the cancer drugs involved in the deal remain sparse. Both are preclinical small molecules, and NextRNA CEO Dominique Verhelle declined to comment on when they might reach the clinic. The drugs’ targets and the types of cancer they’re designed to treat are also remaining under wraps for now, though Verhelle said the mechanisms are new.
The upfront and near-term milestone payments will be enough to advance the two programs, after which Bayer can exercise options for each of them, Verhelle added.
