In­cyte pays out $70M to get hands on Medicxi-backed vi­tili­go biotech

The M&A wheels keep on turn­ing in biotech — and this time it’s In­cyte that gets to do the deal­mak­ing.

The Delaware biotech put out word on Mon­day morn­ing that it will be shelling out $70 mil­lion in cash to ac­quire Vil­laris Ther­a­peu­tics. In­cyte will not on­ly ac­quire Vil­laris, but al­so ex­clu­sive glob­al rights for Vil­laris’s lead can­di­date au­re­molimab.

Au­re­molimab, cur­rent­ly in IND-en­abling stud­ies, is an an­ti-IL-15Rβ mon­o­clon­al an­ti­body be­ing in­ves­ti­gat­ed in vi­tili­go, with a pos­si­bil­i­ty of oth­er au­toim­mune and in­flam­ma­to­ry in­di­ca­tions. Vil­laris says it is tar­get­ing that path­way af­ter a mouse study showed that do­ing so could be ef­fec­tive at re­vers­ing the dis­ease.

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