The Montreal pharma Repare Therapeutics has just struck a blow by signing an agreement with the Swiss giant Roche whose value could reach more than 1.3 billion US dollars (nearly 1.7 billion $ CAD).

As a result, Repare stock jumped 45% yesterday on NASDAQ.

"What we see with the transaction concluded with Roche is a worldwide recognition of the skills we have here in Quebec," said Repare Chief Financial Officer Steve Forte. , during a telephone interview with Le Journal.

The agreement provides for the payment of US$125 million immediately and up to US$1.2 billion as development milestones are reached.

The partnership with Roche, which relates to camonsertib, an oncology product, "brings an ability to develop the drug at a much larger scale than what we could have done", added Mr. Forte.

Repare seeks to develop "precision oncology" drugs to fight certain cancers in patients with specific genetic characteristics.

Jobs in Quebec

The company was founded in 2016 by three researchers from Toronto and New York, including Quebec-born Daniel Durocher.

Becoming CEO of Repare in 2017, Montrealer Lloyd Segal set up the company's head office in the Quebec metropolis. Of the approximately 150 employees of Repaire, approximately 90 work in Quebec, while the others reside for the most part in the Boston area.

Mr. Segal is the husband of Acadian entrepreneur Clarissa Desjardins. In 2019, she sold Clementia Pharmaceuticals, a company she founded in 2010, to Ipsen for $1.7 billion. A few months later, the French group had to write off much of the value of its acquisition due to disappointing clinical results.

Last year, Ms. Desjardins founded Congruence Therapeutics, which closed a US$50 million financing earlier this year.