The SHP2 ship sails

The quiet termination of a licensing deal between Roche and Relay Therapeutics leaves Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer as perhaps the only remaining western developers of SHP2 inhibitors. Roche’s decision – Relay revealed the termination of the deal, covering the SHP2 inhibitor migoprotafib, in a low-key SEC filing yesterday – follows AbbVie’s ending of two Jacobio-derived SHP2 inhibitors, the scrapping of Erasca’s similarly acting project ERAS-601, and several other discontinuations. Such moves have followed clinical setbacks, as the SHP2 mechanism failed to live up to its initial promise as a combination partner for KRAS inhibition. In the case of migoprotafib no clinical data were ever published, though technically three combo trials remain ongoing. Though the Relay/Roche tie-up was one of several in SHP2 inhibition the deals’ relatively cautious financial terms suggested that this mechanism was always seen as a long shot. Bristol came to this party relatively late, paying $90m in 2022 for rights to BridgeBio’s BBP-398 (now coded BMS-986466), and while this deal remains listed in Bristol’s pipeline several trials of this molecule have been terminated.

The SHP2 inhibitor pipeline

Source: OncologyPipeline.