Monte Rosa Therapeutics Stock Scores Biggest Gain In Nearly A Year On $5.7B Novartis Deal For Immune-Mediated Diseases

Monte Rosa Therapeutics jumped 44% on Monday, its strongest session since October 2024, after announcing a second collaboration with Novartis to develop degraders for immune-mediated diseases. 

The new agreement builds on the companies' October 2024 global exclusive license deal for Monte Rosa's VAV1 degraders, including MRT-6160.

The latest deal grants Novartis an exclusive license to an undisclosed discovery target, as well as options to license two programs from Monte Rosa's preclinical immunology pipeline. Monte Rosa will apply its proprietary AI/ML-enabled QuEEN platform to identify and advance degraders, which Novartis will further develop and commercialize.

Financial terms include a $120 million upfront payment to Monte Rosa, plus option maintenance payments. The company is also eligible for option exercise fees, and development, regulatory and sales milestones, as well as tiered royalties on global net sales in the high single to low double-digit range.

In total, the agreement carries a potential value of up to $5.7 billion, Monte Rosa said. Its publicly disclosed pipeline programs are outside the scope of the collaboration.

The company said the deal extends its cash runway and enables faster advancement of both preclinical and clinical immunology and inflammation programs, including wholly owned candidates in Th1, Th2, and Th17-driven autoimmune conditions. 

CEO Markus Warmuth said the agreement strengthens Monte Rosa's financial position and relationship with Novartis, while supporting multiple anticipated Phase 2 readouts for MRT-8102, MRT-6160, and MRT-2359. 

Meanwhile, Fiona Marshall, President of Biomedical Research at Novartis, said the expanded partnership underscores the company's commitment to targeted protein degradation and the potential of Monte Rosa's QuEEN platform to generate therapies for immune-mediated diseases with high unmet need.

Lazard served as the exclusive financial advisor to Monte Rosa on the agreement.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment was 'extremely bullish' amid a 370% surge in 24-hour message volume.

One user said they were holding their Monte Rosa shares“without any worries,” adding that while the stock did not climb back above $8 on Monday, they expected it to happen by the end of the week, noting they had“seen this play way too many times.”

Another user highlighted the stock's 52-week range of $3.50 to $12.40 and suggested they expected shares to move above the 52-week high within the next two weeks, projecting a level between $15 and $18.

Monte Rosa's stock has declined 0.1% so far in 2025.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

MENAFN15092025007385015968ID1110065810