Matchpoint, Novartis Collaborate on Oral Inhibitors for Inflammatory Diseases
Through the exclusive option and license agreement, Novartis will fund Matchpoint’s research into oral covalent inhibitors and will have the option to exclusively develop and commercialize all products resulting from the collaboration.
Privately held biotechnology company, Matchpoint Therapeutics, has announced, in a July 24, 2025 press release (1), that it has entered into an exclusive option and license agreement with Novartis. The collaboration will see the two companies work together on the development and commercialization of oral covalent inhibitors directed at a transcription factor linked to a number of inflammatory diseases (1).
As per the terms of the agreement, Matchpoint will use its Advanced Covalent Exploration (ACE) platform to progress its preclinical program through to development candidate selection. All research activities to that point will be led by Matchpoint, while Novartis will provide research funding of up to USD 60 million.
Leveraging the properties of covalent chemistry and its proprietary ACE platform, Matchpoint will target a novel binding site on a protein that has historically been hard-to-drug. Through this work, it is hoped that the protein’s function will be inhibited and, thus, the resulting production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines will also be halted.
Once the development candidates have been selected, Novartis can choose to exercise its option to exclusively license the program and will have the global rights to develop and commercialize all products resulting from the collaboration. If Novartis proceeds with its exclusive license option, Matchpoint will be eligible to receive up to USD 1 billion in total payments, including development and commercial milestones. Additionally, Matchpoint will receive tiered royalties on future product sales.
“This collaboration highlights the potential of our targeted approach to covalent chemistry to unlock novel mechanisms and achieve superior pharmacology,” said Andre Turenne, President and CEO of Matchpoint Therapeutics, in the press release (1). “We are thrilled to collaborate with Novartis, not only for its leadership in immunology research, but also for its outstanding drug development and commercialization track record. These capabilities will ensure that our program has the maximum impact for patients.”
“Novartis is deeply committed to pioneering innovative approaches for patients living with inflammatory and autoimmune diseases,” added Richard Siegel, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Immunology Research at Novartis, in the press release (1). “We are excited to partner with Matchpoint to advance covalent medicines with the potential to address unmet medical needs and historically undruggable targets.”
Matchpoint launched in 2022 after receiving USD 100 million through a financing round that was led by Sanofi Ventures (2). Through the monies raised, Matchpoint advanced its proprietary ACE platform and its discovery pipeline of novel covalent molecules that were initially focused on immunology.
“We created Matchpoint to harness the powerful properties of covalency and enable the targeting of disease-causing proteins otherwise unamenable to small molecule intervention,” explained Turenne in a press release about the launch (2). “We believe the immunology space is greatly underserved by current small molecule therapies and are excited by the potential of our proprietary platform to deliver highly specific covalent medicines for several of its most important and difficult targets.”
References
Matchpoint Therapeutics. Matchpoint Therapeutics Announces Exclusive Option and License Agreement with Novartis to Develop Oral Inhibitors for Multiple Inflammatory Diseases. Press Release, July 24, 2025.
Matchpoint Therapeutics. Matchpoint Therapeutics Launches with USD 100 Million to Deliver on the Promise of Precision Covalent Medicines for Immune Diseases. Press Release, Oct. 14, 2022.