WALTHAM, Mass.– Ventus Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing small-molecule therapies for immunological, inflammatory, and neurological disorders, announced a multi-year collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. The partnership aims to discover and optimize small-molecule drug candidates for challenging disease targets using Ventus’ proprietary ReSOLVE platform.
ReSOLVE combines artificial intelligence, machine learning, protein science, structural biology, and biophysics to model dynamic water networks within protein structures. The platform’s output, known as the hydrocophore, enables precise virtual screening and lead optimization for small-molecule therapeutics at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional methods.
“ReSOLVE uniquely models the structure of water in motion to better understand protein structures, thereby shortening the drug discovery timeline and accelerating patient benefit,” said Michael Crackower, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Ventus. “Genentech is a world leader in drug discovery, responsible for bringing some of the most important medicines of our time to patients. We look forward to working together to discover breakthrough medicines.”
Under the agreement, Ventus will use ReSOLVE for virtual screening and lead identification across multiple targets, while Genentech will handle preclinical and clinical development and commercialization. Ventus will also have the opportunity to apply ReSOLVE to support additional Genentech discovery programs.
Ventus will receive an upfront payment and is eligible for further preclinical, development, and commercial milestone payments exceeding $460 million, along with tiered royalties on future net sales.
“Roche and Genentech are continuing to invest in breakthrough technologies that help us bring differentiated therapies to patients,” said Boris L. Zaïtra, Head of Roche Corporate Business Development. “Collaborating with biotech companies such as Ventus, which brings a unique computational approach to drug discovery, has the potential to generate innovative medicines for long-standing challenging targets.”
