Ipsen acquires Kartos Therapeutics in $1.75 billion deal

Ipsen agreed to acquire Kartos Therapeutics, a Redwood City, California-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a treatment for myelofibrosis, a rare blood cancer, for $450 million upfront and up to $1.3 billion in additional milestone payments, bringing the total potential deal value to $1.75 billion.

According to Reuters, the acquisition centers on navtemadlin, an oral MDM2 inhibitor being evaluated as an add-on therapy to ruxolitinib, the current standard of care for myelofibrosis, in patients who have a suboptimal response to that treatment. The drug is currently in a Phase III trial called POIESIS, which is enrolling more than 600 patients across more than 250 sites globally. Top-line data from that trial are expected in 2027, the company said.

Ipsen CEO David Loew said in a statement that the deal "further strengthens our late-stage oncology pipeline" and that navtemadlin has the potential to become a new treatment option as early as 2028.

Myelofibrosis is a rare blood cancer in which the bone marrow becomes scarred, forcing blood production to shift to the spleen and causing significant symptoms including fatigue, night sweats, and progressive splenomega

Fuente original: Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/healthcare/articles/ipsen-acquires-kartos-therapeutics-1-135052867.html)