Targeting Undruggable Cancers
Novartis Forges Up to $1.9 Billion Partnership with Antares to Tackle 'Undruggable' Cancer Targets
Key Points
Antares’ pedigree includes its 2025 spinout from Scorpion Therapeutics after Eli Lilly purchased Scorpion’s PI3Kα pipeline for up to $2.5 billion, underscoring the credibility of its platform and track record in uncovering novel binding sites. The broader Scorpion lineage also included deals with AstraZeneca ($75 million) and Pierre Fabre (up to $553 million).
Antares’ early portfolio and timing: the spinout came with three preclinical candidates, and its lead precision oncology program is expected to enter the clinic in 2026, with the collaboration applying its platform to a limited number of undisclosed oncology targets.
Antares’ discovery engine features a comprehensive covalent drug discovery approach, leveraging proprietary libraries, chemical proteomics, structure-driven computational chemistry, and machine-learning, complemented by a next-generation mass spectrometry platform and pocket-finding approaches to tackle undruggable targets.
Novartis is the first publicly disclosed partner with Antares, a notable milestone given Antares’ background, including a $177 million Series A and its recent spinout from Scorpion Therapeutics.
Novartis is paying $105 million upfront to partner with Antares Therapeutics, a Boston biotech that specializes in attacking cancer targets once thought impossible to drug. The deal, announced June 24, 2026, could be worth up to $1.9 billion total, including $1.8 billion in milestone and royalty payments, according to Fierce Biotech.
Antares will use its covalent drug discovery engine to go after a limited number of undisclosed oncology targets. Novartis gets the option to license the resulting assets as programs advance. CEO Adam Friedman said the deal lets Antares "translate our science into transformative therapies for patients faster than either of us could alone," per Business Wire.
Antares' Scorpion Pedigree Earned Novartis' Attention
Antares only launched in June 2025, but its roots run deep. It spun out of Scorpion Therapeutics after Eli Lilly bought Scorpion's lead cancer drug program for up to $2.5 billion in early 2025. Antares kept the discovery engine and several preclinical programs that were not part of that Lilly deal, according to Fierce Biotech.
Scorpion had already proven the platform worked. It struck deals with AstraZeneca worth $75 million and Pierre Fabre worth up to $553 million before the Lilly exit. Antares launched with $177 million in Series A funding and three preclinical drug candidates. Novartis is now its first publicly disclosed partner, per BioPharma Dive.
Covalent Chemistry Is the Engine Behind the Deal
Antares' platform targets proteins that traditional drugs cannot grab onto. These "undruggable" proteins lack the obvious pockets that most medicines latch onto. Antares uses covalent drugs — molecules that permanently bond to their target — to find hidden pockets other approaches miss.
The platform combines proprietary chemical libraries, mass spectrometry, and machine learning to map these hidden sites. Novartis President of Biomedical Research Fiona Marshall said: "Many of the most compelling targets today in oncology have historically been considered undruggable. We believe this collaboration has the potential to unlock a new wave of targeted therapies," according to Pharmaceutical Technology.
Novartis Bets Big on Next-Generation Oncology Targets
This deal is not Novartis' first big oncology move in 2026. In March, the Swiss drugmaker spent $2 billion upfront to acquire Synnovation Therapeutics' cancer program — a PI3Kα inhibitor that competes directly with the drug Lilly bought from Scorpion. The Antares deal now gives Novartis a separate path to entirely new targets, according to Fierce Biotech.
Antares has kept those targets secret on purpose. Friedman told Endpoints News: "There's really no strategic reason to disclose our programs until we have something important to say, and that is really around clinical data." Antares' own lead program is expected to enter human clinical trials later in 2026.
$105M Upfront Is Just the Entry Fee for Novartis
Analysts see the $105 million upfront payment as a modest price for access to a top-tier discovery engine. The bulk of the $1.9 billion is tied to milestones — option exercises, regulatory approvals, and sales targets — that only pay out if the science succeeds. Royalties are set at tiered rates in the low double digits, per Yahoo Finance.
For Antares, the cash is fuel. The company can now advance its own wholly-owned pipeline while Novartis funds collaborative discovery work in parallel. Analysts at Seeking Alpha call the deal "critical validation" for the spinout model — proof that the Scorpion platform's capabilities survived the transition to a new company.
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