Latham & Watkins Advises Erasca on License Agreement With Novartis and Concurrent Common Stock Offering

Erasca, Inc. (Nasdaq: ERAS), a clinical-stage precision oncology company singularly focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing therapies for patients with RAS/MAPK pathway-driven cancers, has announced it has entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement with Novartis (NYSE: NVS) for naporafenib, a Phase 2 pivotal-ready pan-RAF inhibitor with a potential first-in-class and best-in-class profile in NRAS mutant (NRASm) melanoma and other RAS/MAPK pathway-driven tumors. To date, naporafenib has been dosed in over 500 patients across multiple trials and has demonstrated preliminary clinical proof-of-concept as well as favorable safety and tolerability data both as a single agent and in combination with other molecularly targeted and immuno-oncology therapies.

As separately announced, Erasca has priced a US$100 million equity offering with select healthcare investors. The offering is expected to close on December 13, 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Latham & Watkins LLP advised Erasca on the license transaction with a team led by Bay Area partner Judith Hasko and San Diego Counsel Darryl Steensma. Advice was also provided on securities matters by San Diego partners Cheston Larson and Matt Bush, with associate Claire Drucker. The San Diego team also led the common stock offering transaction.