Sanofi and Kymera sign protein degrader deal

Sanofi will pay Kymera Therapeutics $150 million up front to develop therapies that degrade IRAK4, a protein implicated in immune-inflammatory diseases. Several other companies are developing compounds that inhibit IRAK4, but Kymera’s drug candidates break down rather than block the protein. Kymera, which will be responsible for Phase I studies before passing the baton to Sanofi, hopes to put its protein degrader into the clinic in the first half of 2021. That could make it the first protein degrader to enter human studies outside the field of oncology.