C4's Partnership with Roche, Gilead Options Kymera degrader, and Astellas Licenses Dyno Capsid
Plus the initial dosing of Enanta and Avencell's Clinical Trials
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705 Mount Auburn offers both built out and shell lab space options along with a best-in-class onsite amenity package.
There were a number of big pharma deals in Watertown this week, but before jumping in, we wanted to highlight two opportunities for companies looking to engage with the Watertown Community. The first is the Watertown Business Coalitions’ upcoming Community STEM Night on April 29th, highlighting both STEM opportunities at Watertown Public Schools and their connections to the local STEM company partners. The second is Watertown Helps Out, a collection of volunteer community service opportunities across the month of May, put together by the Watertown Community Foundation. If you find events like these and our newsletters informative, consider supporting our work.
Roche Partners with C4 Therapeutics on degrader-antibody conjugates for cancer.
C4 Therapeutics, headquartered at the Linx Building, announced a partnership with Roche last week to develop degrader antibody conjugates for undisclosed oncology targets, in a deal valued at over $1 billion. Antibody-degrader conjugates are an emerging technology in the antibody drug conjugate (ADC) space. ADCs are a therapy where drugs are attached to antibodies to target the chemotherapy to specific cancer cells. The market for ADCs has expanded rapidly over the last 15 years, with ADCs like breast cancer therapy Enhertu generating revenue of $2.289 billion in 2025. C4 and Roche are innovating on the ADC concept by replacing the chemotherapy drug with a targeted protein degrader, which they hypothesize can lead to better therapeutic response compared to existing ADCs. Under the terms of the deal, C4 will develop degraders for two oncology targets and Roche will conjugate them to antibodies. Roche is paying C4 $20 million upfront, with C4 eligible to receive $1 Billion in milestone payments, in addition to future royalties.
Gilead options Kymera Degrader KT-200 for cancer treatment.
Kymera Therapeutics, headquartered at the Arsenal on the Charles, announced last week that Gilead Sciences is exercising their option to license KT-200, an oral CDK2 molecular glue in development as an oncology drug. According to data from Kymera, KT-200 degrades the protein CKD2, which drives tumor growth in certain cancers. The option is the fruit of a collaboration between Gilead and Kymera started last summer. Under the terms of the agreement, Kymera received $85 million in up front payments, and is eligible to receive up to $750 million in total payments. As a result of Gilead executing this option, Kymera will receive a $45 million milestone payment, and will hand the program off to Gilead to continue studies to support an IND filing in 2027.
More Kymera News: Kymera announced an FDA Fast Track Designation for their STAT6 degrader KT-621, in development to treat moderate to severe Asthma.
Astellas licenses Dyno capsid for gene therapy delivery.
Dyno Therapeutics, headquartered at the Arsenal on the Charles, announced that Astellas Pharma has exercised its option to license an Adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid designed by Dyno to deliver gene therapies to skeletal muscle. As a refresher, Dyno is an example of a platform biotech: they specialize in using computational and biology tools to develop AAV capsids for gene therapy delivery, rather than developing specific therapeutics. The option exercised by Astellas is the first capsid licensed from a collaboration first announced in 2021, and is Dyno’s second licensed AAV overall, after an agreement with Roche in 2025. Under the terms of the agreement, Dyno will receive a $15 million fee plus potential milestone and royalty payments if the program advances.
Even more big pharma deals: Biogen announced the acquisition of Apellis Pharmaceuticals, which is headquartered in Waltham but operates a lab at 65 Grove Street in Watertown, for $5.6 billion to strengthen their immunology and rare disease areas, and expand into nephrology. (BBJ)
OneCyte partners with Kemp Proteins on joint cell line development platform.
OneCyte, headquartered at Cambridge Scientific labs, announced a partnership with Kemp Protiens to develop a streamlined cell line development platform for producing biologics like antibodies and complex proteins. According to the companies the collaboration will combine Kemp’s protein modeling computational platform and OneCyte’s cell line development platform to optimize the generation and identification of cell lines that produce high amounts of the target biologic. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
AvenCell and Enanta Announce the initial dosing of patients in their respective clinical trials.
AvenCell Therapeutics, headquartered at Arsenal Yards, announced the first successful dosing of a patient in their Phase 1 QUADvance study with AVC-203 for the treatment of B-cell cancers. The study is evaluating the safety, tolerability, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of AVC-203. AVC-203 is a CAR-T cell therapy that uses healthy donor T-cells (rather than a patient’s own T-Cells) to enable faster treatment and fitter T-Cells to improve therapy efficacy. It was also engineered with CRISPR/Cas9 to avoid graft vs host disease and rejection by the patient’s immune system. it also incorporates bot a dual CD19/CD20 targeting antigen, and is designed to allow for the switching between CD19/CD20 targeting and other targets through the addition of other tumor antigens in the future. AvenCell is a a surviving member of the Arsenal Yards cell therapy cluster, after the closure of Abata and Affini-T Therapeutics last year.
Enanta Pharmaceuticals, headquartered at The Arsenal on the Charles, announced the first successful dosing of a patient in their Phase 1 trial for EDP-978, a KIT inhibitor for uticaria (Hives) and other mast cell-diseases. The trial is evaluating the safety, tolerability and PK/PD in healthy adult volunteers. EDP-978 is the first moleculate from Enanta’s broader pivot to immunology and away from virology to make it into the clinic. Besides this clinical trial for EDP-978, Enanta is also preparing a Phase 3 study for their RSV therapy Zelicapavir.
More clinical trial news: Neutrolis, which is headquartered in Cambridge but operates a lab in the Biolabs space, announced positive safety results for their Phase 1 trial of NTR-1011 in health adults, and plans to initiate a Phase 1b trial in patients with systemic lupus and rheumatoid arthritis in mid-2026.
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Quick Hits
Departures
As part of their continuing winding down, Lyra Therapeutics terminated their lease at 480 Arsenal Way.
People
Nocion Therapeutics appointed Mar Iwiki to their Board of Directors.
Thats all the news for now. Enjoy Patriots Day next week and we will see you on the 28th!
