Defand Therapeutics (迪拓生物), a China-based biotechnology company specializing in molecular glue degraders, announced a research collaboration and licensing agreement with Roche to discover and develop novel protein degraders targeting multiple proteins implicated in cancer and immune-mediated diseases. Roche will obtain exclusive worldwide commercialization rights to resulting products, while Defand will receive an undisclosed upfront payment, potential milestone payments, and tiered royalties on future net sales. STAT reported that the agreement could be worth close to USD 1 billion, citing a source familiar with the terms, although neither company has disclosed financial specifics.
Under the deal terms, Defand will use its proprietary molecular glue discovery platform to identify degraders against selected targets. Roche will take responsibility for subsequent preclinical and clinical development once programs reach agreed research milestones. The agreement also gives Roche an option to expand the collaboration to additional targets. Neither the initial number of targets nor the financial value of the agreement was disclosed.
Founded in 2023, Defand has developed a high-throughput screening platform designed to identify molecular glue degraders against proteins previously considered difficult to target with conventional drugs. The company said it has established screening cell lines covering more than 100 clinically relevant targets, supported by a compound library designed to engage multiple E3 ubiquitin ligases. Molecular glue degraders are small molecules that bring disease-associated proteins into proximity with cellular degradation machinery, enabling their destruction rather than simply inhibiting their activity.