SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jecure Therapeutics Inc., a biotechnology company with novel drug discovery programs targeting serious inflammatory diseases, today announced a definitive agreement by which it will be acquired by Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. With this acquisition, Genentech will obtain full rights to Jecure’s entire preclinical portfolio of NLRP3 inhibitors.
“Genentech has an extensive history of translating pioneering science into transformative medicines,” said Jeffrey A. Stafford, Ph.D., president and CEO of Jecure. “The acquisition of Jecure provides a unique opportunity to bring novel NLRP3 inhibitors to patients.”
“We’ve had a long-standing interest in targeting inflammatory pathways that may play a role in a number of serious diseases,” said James Sabry, M.D., Ph.D., global head of Pharma Partnering, Roche. “We’re excited to combine Jecure’s portfolio with our discovery and development capabilities, as well as our expertise in NLRP3 biology, to potentially help people with inflammatory diseases.”
Jecure began operations in 2015 with a seed financing from founding investor Versant Ventures. The company raised $20 million in a Series A round from Versant in 2017 to continue to develop and advance its portfolio of NLRP3 inhibitors.
About NLRP3 and its Role in Inflammatory Disease
Nucleotide-binding oligomerization (NOD)-like Receptor Family Pyrin Domain Containing Protein 3 (NLRP3) is an immunomodulatory protein involved in the activation of certain inflammasomes, protein complexes responsible for the activation of cellular inflammatory responses. Studies have linked cellular stress signals to the activation of NLRP3 inflammasomes in a wide range of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders, such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), liver fibrosis, gout, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cardiovascular diseases.
About Jecure Therapeutics
Jecure Therapeutics is focused on the discovery of novel therapeutics for the treatment of NASH and liver fibrosis. Jecure’s scientific founder is Dr. Ariel Feldstein, Division Chief of Gastroenterology at UCSD School of Medicine and a leading physician scientist in hepatology. With operations in the biotech hub of San Diego, California, Jecure combines emerging NASH biology from Dr. Feldstein’s lab, a proprietary liver disease platform and an elite discovery team of veteran pharma/biotech scientists. Jecure’s lead program has identified small molecule inhibitors of the NLRP3 inflammasome, a novel target and pro-inflammatory driver of NASH. Jecure is backed by top-tier life science investor Versant Ventures. For more information, please visit www.jecuretx.com.
