Blacksmith Medicines, Inc., a US-based company developing medicines targeting metal-dependent enzymes, and US-based Forge Therapeutics, a biotechnology company, announced on Monday that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to use their integrated chemistry platforms, creating a biopharma dedicated to discovering and developing medicines aimed at a large class of proteins named metalloenzymes, with initial concentration on oncology and infection.

The company said that the Blacksmith platform has been validated through multiple pharmaceutical partnerships, including deals with Roche, Eli Lilly, and Basilea, which have the potential to earn over USD800M in milestone payments plus royalties. Furthermore, the company currently has earned non-dilutive federal awards of up to USD25.3M to fully fund its infectious disease programs to the end of Phase 1. Blacksmith also has emerging precision oncology programs focused on novel synthetic lethality targets involved in the DNA Damage Response. Blacksmith investors include Evotec A.G., MagnaSci Ventures, MP Healthcare Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Eli Lilly.

Zachary Zimmerman, Ph.D., Blacksmith CEO and co-founder, said, 'We are excited to unveil the merger of Blacksmith and Forge, which we believe will be transformational for both companies. Prospects are very bright for the new Blacksmith, as we are now able to expand our metalloenzyme platform, advance our internal and partnered programs, and create increased value for our shareholders by discovering first-in-class and best-in-class medicines. Our target strategy is to focus on metalloenzymes of significant unmet need and high pharma interest, targets with validated biology that have been challenging to drug due to chemistry limitations that we can solve with our platform.'