Mission Therapeutics has handed a global license to MTX652, a Phase II-ready selective inhibitor of the mitochondrial enzyme USP30, to Australia-based Dimerix Limited (ASX: DXB) in a transaction worth up to USD 292 million in upfront and milestone payments plus tiered royalties on global net sales. The transaction hands an acute kidney injury (AKI) candidate to a renal disease specialist while freeing Mission, a Cambridge, UK-based biotech, to concentrate resources on MTX325, its CNS-focused Parkinson's disease program.
Dimerix will pay USD 5 million upfront, with the remainder of the USD 292 million contingent on development, regulatory, and commercial milestones: up to USD 47 million tied to clinical progress, USD 40 million on first marketing approval, USD 25 million on approval in a second indication, and up to USD 175 million in sales-based milestones. Mission also retains tiered, double-digit royalties on worldwide sales. The deal includes assignment of the composition-of-matter patent family, meaning Mission exits the asset entirely rather than retaining residual ownership.
MTX652 is a small molecule inhibitor of USP30, a deubiquitinating enzyme that suppresses mitophagy, the cellular process that clears damaged mitochondria. By blocking USP30, MTX652 is designed to restore mitochondrial quality control in kidney cells injured by ischemia, toxins, or sepsis — mechanisms implicated in AKI following cardiac surgery and other acute insults. The molecule carries an open IND in the US, with a Phase II protocol already cleared by the FDA to evaluate its ability to prevent kidney injury and preserve renal function.
AKI has no approved pharmacological treatment and a long history of late-stage failures. Genentech recently terminated a Phase II trial of its RIPK1 inhibitor GDC-8264 in cardiac surgery-associated AKI after concluding the study was unlikely to show statistically significant benefit. That track record of attrition may be a factor in the deal's modest USD 5 million upfront relative to its USD 292 million headline value.