Wednesday, November 13, 2019

COI Pharmaceuticals Gets $576M Exit

San Diego-based COI Pharmaceuticals, the life sciences incubator and support entity created by Avalon Ventures to support its portfolio companies, says that one of its companies, Calporta Therapeutics, has been acquired by Merck. The deal is worth up to $576M, including upfront payments and contingent milestone payments. Calporta had been developing treatments for various lysosomal storage and neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Calporta's technology revolves around selective small molecule agonists to TRPML1, which the companies say is believed to play a role in lysosomal function by promoting autophagy and lysosomal exocytosis. Calporta Therapeutics was launched out of COI Pharmaceuticals in 2015.