Boehringer Ingelheim acquires checkpoint inhibitor developer in $1.3 billion deal

Pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim is slated to buy the start-up Nerio Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $1.3 billion.

With the acquisition, the firm gains a handful of drug candidates designed to treat cancer by targeting protein tyrosine phosphatases N1 and N2. The enzymes serve as immune checkpoints. Blocking them effectively releases the brakes on immune cells, freeing them up to fight cancer. Nerio’s candidates have yet to be tested in humans.

According to securities filings, the start-up, based in La Jolla, California, had previously raised about $6.5 million in venture funding. Its backers include Avalon Ventures, whose partner Sanford Madigan is also Nerio Therapeutics’ cofounder and CEO. Boehringer did not disclose how much it paid Nerio up front.

Boehringer has acquired several cancer-focused start-ups—and specifically immuno-oncology start-ups—in recent years. Its 2023 acquisition of T3 Pharma and 2020 purchase of Northern Biologics were both built around drug candidates that could modulate the immune system to enable it to better fight tumor cells. Other cancer-related acquisitions include those of antibody-drug conjugate developer NBE-Therapeutics, oncolytic virus treatment maker ViraTherapeutics, and cancer vaccine firm AMAL Therapeutics.

“Nerio’s small molecule inhibitors will be an important addition to Boehringer Ingelheim’s portfolio with the potential to act as a single agent therapy and, importantly, in combination with many cancer therapies already being developed in-house,” Boehringer says in a statement.