PureTech signs deal with Roche for chronic disease treatments

PureTech Health has announced a deal with Roche that could result in the Swiss drug giant paying the company more than $1bn (£769m) linked to PureTech’s treatments for cancer and other chronic diseases.

The London-listed company said Roche would pay it up to $36m in upfront payments, research support and early preclinical milestones. PureTech will also be eligible for “development milestone payments of over $1bn and additional sales milestones and royalties for an undisclosed number of products”.

PureTech shares rose 11% to 151.10p at 08:59 BST.

PureTech, which is based in Boston, Massachusetts, is developing milk-derived products that allow patients to take oral versions of complex payloads such as nucleic acids, peptides and small molecules for the treatment of diseases. Its products concentrate on links between the brain, gut and immune system to treat diseases that sap the majority of health spending.

Daphne Zohar, PureTech’s chief executive, said: "We are excited to accelerate the development of this promising technology from our internal lymphatic and immune cell trafficking programmes. The expertise and resources that Roche is bringing to the collaboration will help us to potentially address one of the biggest challenges in oligonucleotide-based therapeutic development: oral administration of nucleic acids."