Prometheus Clears Hart-Scott, And ReNAgade Therapeutics Wins $300 Million In Funding From Merck, On Top Of Collab With ORNA ($3.5 Billion Potential)

The Merck collab / deal space is poppin' this morning. The ~$11 billion Prometheus acquisition has cleared the Hart-Scott antitrust pre-merger notification waiting period, in the US. . . so it may close before the end of Q2 2023. That is clearly the more market moving news, but also of note. . . is this modified RNA focused start-up's $300 million payday, from Mother Merck.

And so, as imaged in lower left of the graphic at right, last year, we reported on the up to $3.5 billion milestones deal Merck signed with ORNA Therapeutics. And previously-teeny-tiny ReNAgade has been working in a quiet joint venture deal, with ORNA -- since last winter. [Plus, since then, ORNA itself has also signed similarly-sized deals with Pfizer (in unrelated arenas), among others.] So it is fair to say that this three way "Marvel team up" is off to a galloping start (at Galloping Hill?! Nah. . . heh.). Here's the latest on it, and a bit:

. . .A new RNA startup is emerging from stealth with a Big Pharma partnership, a leadership team that hails from well-known RNA drugmakers and $300 million in venture capital.

ReNAgade Therapeutics (with its name styled to highlight the firm's "RNA" focus) launched publicly Tuesday after 18 months or so operating behind closed doors. The startup was founded by MPM Capital affiliate BioImpact Capital, which led the Series A investment round with F2 Ventures.

ReNAgade has a "running start," as CEO Amit Munshi puts it. Already, the young startup has teamed up with circular RNA startup Orna Therapeutics Inc., which itself launched just over two years ago. That sets ReNAgade up for a partnership with Merck, since Orna and Merck entered a $3.5 billion collaboration in late 2022 that, ReNAgade revealed, includes technologies developed through the ReNAgade-Orna joint venture. . . .

The company has about 100 employees already. Its headquarters are [on] Memorial Drive in Cambridge, a storied building that's been home to a Ford Motor Co. assembly plant, a Polaroid Corp. manufacturing facility and MIT. . . .

Munshi is a serial entrepreneur and experienced CEO, having previously headed up. . . Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. [among others]. . .

The rest of the C-suite is similarly star-studded: chief scientific officer Pete Smith was chief early development officer at Alnylam and head of nonclinical R&D at Moderna; chief operating officer Ciaran Lawlor is another former Moderna scientist; and chief business officer Brian Shuster spent about 15 years at Johnson & Johnson Inc. and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. . . .

Now you know -- off for a mountain bike ride along the crystal clear spring lake waters, on a 77 degree day! Woot! Be excellent to one another. . . . smile.

नमस्ते