Protara spends $8.75m on TARA-002 manufacturing assets as lymphatic malformation trial slips

Protara Therapeutics has paid $8.75 million to take over manufacturing assets for its lead candidate, TARA-002, from the supplier Novex Innovations. The company disclosed the purchase alongside its third-quarter 2026 results on 6 November. The information available does not say which assets were bought or how supply arrangements with Novex will change, so the commercial effect of the deal cannot yet be judged.

The price is modest against the roughly $143 million in cash Protara reported, about 6% of that balance. The company is a single-asset-led developer, so securing production capacity for TARA-002 sits close to the centre of its plans.

The results also carried a timing update. Protara now expects to complete enrolment in STARBORN-1, the registrational study of TARA-002 in lymphatic malformations, in early Q1 2027. It continues to plan the start of a rolling Biologics License Application to the US Food and Drug Administration in the second half of 2027. In a rolling filing, sections of the application go to the agency as they are finished rather than as one package. TARA-002 holds Breakthrough Therapy designation, a status meant to accelerate development and review for serious conditions.

Elsewhere in its pipeline, Protara said it has completed enrolment in the THRIVE-3 Phase 2b cohort of IV Choline Chloride. No further detail on that programme was available.