Up to eight drugs will be developed with Artios' nuclease targeting discovery platform, namely its small-molecule ATR inhibitor and a mammalian polymerase theta (Polθ) program. The platform will be used to jointly identify multiple novel synthetic lethal targets for precision oncology drug candidates.

As part of the deal, Germany-based Merck KGaA will get exclusive worldwide rights to some of the drugs developed jointly. Artios will get $30 million in upfront and near-term payments, and up to $860 million in total milestone fees for each target successfully developed. The deal does not include rights to Artios' existing lead programs.

Ideaya, Broad Institute partner on CRISPR synthetic lethality library
Ideaya Biosciences has entered into a target and biomarker discovery partnership with the Sellers Laboratory at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute...