Proteovant, VantAI and Blueprint Medicines aim to develop new therapies that target disease-causing proteins

VantAI announces multi-year protein degrader discovery collaboration with Janssen

SK Inc.’s focus on driving medical breakthroughs received another boost with recent announcements of collaborations by its U.S. affiliates with leading biopharmaceutical firms. Proteovant and its sister company, VantAI, both recently announced plans to work with leading biopharmaceutical companies in the emerging area of drug development called targeted protein degradation.

To enter one of the most promising areas for novel drug discovery, SK Inc., the strategic investment arm of SK Group, invested $200 million in Proteovant through a collaboration with Roivant Sciences in 2020. SK Inc. subsequently made an investment in Roivant Sciences in 2021 as Roivant became a public company.

Proteovant is focused on the development of protein degraders that harness the body’s natural protein disposal system and offer the potential to develop new medicines that target historically difficult-to-drug proteins, which play an important role in causing serious diseases. VantAI, a subsidiary of Roivant, pairs machine learning with deep systems biology expertise to build industry leading computational models for protein degrader design and optimization.

Proteovant Partners with Blueprint Medicines, Leveraging VantAI’s Deep Learning Platform

Proteovant recently announced a strategic collaboration agreement with U.S.-based Blueprint Medicines, in which it will leverage its protein degrader discovery and development expertise alongside VantAI’s deep learning platform and Blueprint’s precision medicine capabilities. The three companies agreed to work together to advance novel targeted protein degrader therapies to address important areas of medical need.

Proteovant, Blueprint Medicines and VantAI will jointly research potential targets and advance up to two novel protein degrader therapies into development candidates in oncology and hematology. Under the terms of the agreement, Proteovant will receive a $20 million upfront payment from Blueprint and be eligible to receive up to $632 million in potential milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on future sales. For more on the collaboration, please see this release from Proteovant and Blueprint Medicines.