KdT Ventures is launching a new biotechnology startup based on a drug it’s licensing from NGM Biopharmaceuticals, the companies announced Thursday.

KdT Ventures周四宣布，该公司将推出一家新的生物技术初创公司，该公司基于其从NGM Biopharmaceuticals获得许可的药物。

The deal hands the Austin-based venture firm’s currently unnamed startup worldwide rights to an experimental drug called NGM313, which will be developed for an unspecified rare disease. NGM Bio will get a stake in the new company, an undisclosed upfront cash payment and potentially up to $608 million in future payouts should NGM313 hit certain development, regulatory and sales targets.

该交易使这家总部位于奥斯汀的风险投资公司目前尚未命名的全球初创公司拥有一种名为NGM313的实验药物的权利，该药物将针对一种未指明的罕见疾病开发。如果NGM313达到某些开发、监管和销售目标，NGM Bio将获得这家新公司的股份，这是一笔未披露的预付现金支付，未来可能会获得高达6.08亿美元的支付。

NGM Bio could also receive sales royalties if the drug eventually gets to market. .

如果该药物最终上市，NGM Bio还可以获得销售特许权使用费。。

The deal represents a revival for NGM313, an antibody drug that activates a cluster of proteins involved in metabolism. NGM once developed the drug for diabetes and a liver condition now known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH and, in 2019, licensed it to Merck & Co. as part of a longstanding partnership.

该协议代表了NGM313的复兴，NGM313是一种抗体药物，可激活参与新陈代谢的蛋白质簇。NGM曾开发出一种治疗糖尿病和肝脏疾病的药物，现在被称为代谢功能障碍相关脂肪性肝炎（MASH），并于2019年将其授权给默克公司（Merck＆Co.），作为长期合作伙伴关系的一部分。

Merck stopped testing in 2023 and returned ownership rights, however, after the drug didn’t reach the pharmaceutical company’s threshold for effectiveness in a Phase 2 trial. .

然而，在该药物在第二阶段试验中未达到制药公司的有效性阈值后，默克公司于2023年停止了测试，并归还了所有权。。

Still, in Thursday’s statement, NGM Bio and KdT noted how NGM313 has been studied in more than 300 trial volunteers, demonstrating proof that it works as intended and has a “favorable tolerability profile.” Those characteristics have led KdT to form a startup around it and evaluate the drug in a non-metabolic disease.

尽管如此，在周四的声明中，NGM Bio和KdT指出了NGM313是如何在300多名试验志愿者中进行研究的，证明了它的预期效果，并且具有“良好的耐受性”。这些特征导致KdT围绕它成立了一家初创公司，并在非代谢性疾病中评估了该药物。

A Phase 2 trial is expected to start next year. .

第二阶段的试验预计将于明年开始。。

“Our partnership with NGM Bio to advance NGM313 into clinical development for an important and chronically underserved patient population reflects KdT’s commitment to backing transformative science that meaningfully impacts patients' lives,” Cain McClary, KdT’s founder and managing partner, said in the statement..

KdT创始人兼管理合伙人凯恩·麦克拉里（Cain McClary）在声明中表示：“我们与NGM Bio合作，将NGM313推进临床开发，为重要且长期服务不足的患者群体提供服务，这反映了KdT致力于支持对患者生活产生有意义影响的变革性科学。”。。

The deal also marks the latest turn in what’s been a roller coaster ride for NGM Bio. Launched in 2007, the company raised nearly $300 million in private funding and parlayed its relationship with Merck into a pipeline of drugs for several different conditions as well as an initial public offering in 2019.

该交易还标志着NGM Bio公司经历了一场过山车的最新转折。该公司于2007年推出，筹集了近3亿美元的私人资金，并将其与默克公司的关系整合为多种不同条件的药物管道，并于2019年首次公开发行。

But the company’s fortunes changed once publicly traded, as two of its candidates failed mid-stage trials in MASH and geographic atrophy. .

但一旦上市，该公司的命运发生了变化，因为其中两名候选人在MASH和地理萎缩的中期试验中失败。。

The company laid off a third of its workforce in 2023 and a year later, agreed to be taken private again in a deal with affiliates of The Column Group. The firm led a $122 million Series A round in July to help fund a revamped research plan for NGM, which includes a pair of Phase 2 tests in the chronic liver disease primary sclerosing cholangitis and hyperemesis gravidarum, a rare condition of pregnancy..

该公司于2023年解雇了三分之一的员工，一年后，与Column Group的附属公司达成协议，同意再次私有化。该公司在7月份领导了一轮1.22亿美元的a系列，以帮助资助一项针对NGM的改进研究计划，其中包括一对慢性肝病原发性硬化性胆管炎和妊娠剧吐（一种罕见的妊娠疾病）的2期测试。。

“[W]e’re excited for NGM313’s next chapter under the stewardship of KdT’s new venture,” said NGM Bio CEO David Woodhouse, in the statement.

NGM Bio首席执行官大卫·伍德豪斯（DavidWoodhouse）在声明中表示：“我们对在KdT新公司的管理下NGM313的下一章感到兴奋。”。

Additional details on the new startup will be shared in the coming months, McClary added.

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