Spero Therapeutics continues to accumulate assets through acquisitions. This morning, the Cambridge, MA-based startup announced a deal to grab rights to a group of experimental antibiotic compounds from Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:[[ticker:VRTX]]), among them a drug called VXc-486/VXc-100. Spero didn’t disclose the financial terms, just that it will make an upfront payment to Vertex and promise future milestones and royalties if the drugs progress.
The deal is the latest in a group of licensing agreements Spero has used to amass different ways of attacking troublesome drug-resistant bacteria, so-called “superbugs” that can resist common antibiotics. The startup, formed by Atlas Venture in 2014, has already grabbed rights to experimental drugs through pacts with Northern Antibiotics and Promiliad Biopharma. Check out this post for more on the thinking behind those deals, and Spero’s strategy.
Author: Ben Fidler
Ben is former Xconomy Deputy Editor, Biotechnology. He is a seasoned business journalist that comes to Xconomy after a nine-year stint at The Deal, where he covered corporate transactions in industries ranging from biotech to auto parts and gaming. Most recently, Ben was The Deal’s senior healthcare writer, focusing on acquisitions, venture financings, IPOs, partnerships and industry trends in the pharmaceutical, biotech, diagnostics and med tech spaces. Ben wrote features on creative biotech financing models, analyses of middle market and large cap buyouts, spin-offs and restructurings, and enterprise pieces on legal issues such as pay-for-delay agreements and the Affordable Care Act. Before switching to the healthcare beat, Ben was The Deal's senior bankruptcy reporter, covering the restructurings of the Texas Rangers, Phoenix Coyotes, GM, Delphi, Trump Entertainment Resorts and Blockbuster, among others. Ben has a bachelor’s degree in English from Binghamton University.
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