US-based clinical-stage biotechnology company Veralox Therapeutics on Thursday announced an exclusive agreement with Swiss biotech company Nudge Therapeutics to acquire the company and its preclinical cyclic AMP-GMP (cGAS) inhibitor compounds.

The agreement allows Veralox to continue development of Nudge's compounds and trigger acquisition of the company upon achievement of downstream milestones.

Financial terms were not revealed.

Robert Lowery, CEO of Nudge Therapeutics and Bellbrook Labs, said that the deal allows Nudge to utilise the expertise of Veralox to drive its cGAS programme towards a clinical candidate.

Jonathan Mow, Veralox CEO, added: "This is an exciting time for Veralox as we look to build on our expertise in developing novel therapeutics that address serious autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The potential for cGAS inhibitors to treat a variety of inflammatory conditions, including autoimmune, metabolic, cardiovascular, rare diseases and neurodegenerative diseases complements our novel approach to the development of VLX-1005."