Regeneron to Acquire Pharmaceutical Company for $250 Million

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. continues to grow its research efforts in immuno-oncology with the announcement on Wednesday of an agreement to acquire Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on proprietary technology to harness the power of the immune system to combat cancer. The proposed acquisition values Checkmate at a total equity value of approximately $250 million.

“As we continue to advance and expand our research efforts in immuno-oncology, the acquisition of Checkmate will add a promising new modality to Regeneron’s toolkit of potential approaches for difficult-to-treat cancers,” said Leonard S. Schleifer, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Regeneron.

Checkmate’s lead investigational candidate is vidutolimod, which is administered into a tumor and is believed to induce and expand anti-tumor T cells and induce tumor regression as a monotherapy in patients whose tumors previously progressed on PD-1 checkpoint inhibition.

“The unique combination of a differentiated Toll-like receptor 9 with other antibody-based oncology agents may result in increased clinical benefit and provide new treatment options for patients in need. We look forward to welcoming the Checkmate team and their complementary scientific acumen to the Regeneron family,” said Schleifer.

“We are thrilled that Checkmate will become part of Regeneron, a biotechnology leader that shares our deep appreciation for science, hunger for ground-breaking discoveries and commitment to helping patients defeat cancer,” said Alan Bash, President and Chief Executive Officer of Checkmate which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“We believe that the data we have generated with vidutolimod positions Checkmate at the forefront of the innate immune activator field. It is our hope that Regeneron’s resources and expertise will help accelerate the development of vidutolimod and realization of the full potential of our virus-like particle (VLP) platform for immunotherapy,” said Art Krieg, M.D., Checkmate’s Founder and Chief Scientific Officer.