Mestag Therapeutics Announces License & Research Collaboration With MSD

Mestag Therapeutics recently announced it has entered into a license and collaboration agreement with MSD (tradename of Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ) to identify novel targets for the development of therapies against inflammatory diseases. Mestag will employ its Reversing Activated Fibroblast Technology (RAFT) platform, a proprietary platform purposely built to model the pathogenic role of fibroblasts in human disease, to identify novel drug targets. MSD has the option to license one or more targets, up to a prespecified number, and will be responsible for the discovery, development and commercialization of resulting therapeutics.

“Mestag was founded on groundbreaking insights into fibroblast-immune biology, and as an early innovator in this area of research, we have built a robust pipeline of antibody programs and created a unique and productive target discovery platform,” said Susan Hill, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Mestag. “We are acutely aware of the significant unmet needs faced on a daily basis by patients suffering from inflammatory diseases. We are thrilled to collaborate with MSD, together driving continued innovation for the benefit of patients.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Mestag will provide MSD options to obtain exclusive licenses to develop and commercialize therapeutics directed against a prespecified number of potential targets identified under the collaboration. In return Mestag will receive an upfront payment and access fees and will be eligible to receive option fees as well as downstream payments with the potential to total $1.9 billion.

Marc Levesque, MD, PhD, Vice President of Immunology Discovery, MSD Research Laboratories, added “The role of activated fibroblasts in directing immune activity offers exciting new therapeutic potential. We look forward to collaborating with the team at Mestag to identify new potential therapeutic options for patients with fibrosis and inflammatory diseases.”

Mestag harnesses new insights into fibroblast-immune interactions to develop impactful treatments for patients with cancer and inflammatory diseases. We are progressing a pipeline of sophisticated first-in-class antibodies designed to direct and drive the immune system using known and emerging fibroblast-immune biology for a distinctly differentiated class of therapeutics.

Our pipeline includes the bispecific antibody MST-0300, which leverages a new understanding of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) in solid tumors and their role in driving improved patient outcomes; the M402 program, targeting a stromal checkpoint to dampen down the activation of specific immune cell subsets in inflammatory disease; and earlier programs in discovery stage. Separately, we are also identifying novel targets for future therapies through the application of our proprietary RAFT Platform. In 2024, we established a license and research collaboration with MSD to identify novel targets for inflammatory diseases.

Our founding investigators comprise global experts in inflammatory disease, cancer, computational biology and fibroblast biology from the University of Oxford, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. We are supported by leading life science investors SV Health Investors, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Forbion, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Northpond Ventures.

Mestag is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and, in 2021, was recognized on the Fierce 15 list of innovative biotechnology companies. For more information, visit www.mestagtherapeutics.com.