LONDON – Evox Therapeutics Ltd. sealed a $1.2 billion collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co. to apply its exosome technology to the doubly difficult task of systemically delivering RNA interference and antisense oligonucleotide drugs, to reach central nervous system targets. This is the second big deal in under three months for Evox, which in March signed a $882 million agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to use its exosomes to deliver protein replacement and messenger RNA therapies in five rare diseases. In the Lilly deal, Oxford, U.K.-based Evox will be responsible for engineering exosomes to achieve brain and CNS delivery to five unspecified neurological disease targets. The terms include $20 million up front, research funding over three years and a $10 million investment from Lilly in exchange for a convertible bond. The rest of the $1.2 billion headline figure will be in milestone payments if all five products are approved, and will be followed by additional royalties on net sales of products that make it to market.

Innovent partners with Roche in multibillion-dollar deal targeting bispecifics, cell therapies

BEIJING – Suzhou-based Innovent Biologics Inc. is known in China as one of the first drugmakers to launch a PD-1 monoclonal antibody. Now, the company is moving to expand its product portfolio and enhance efforts in developing bispecific antibodies and cell therapies in a potential multibillion-dollar deal with pharma giant Roche Holding AG. Under the terms, Innovent will pay undisclosed up-front development and commercial milestone payments and royalties to Roche for accessing some of its technologies nonexclusively. Those technologies will be used to enable the discovery and development of specific 2:1 T-cell bispecific antibodies and the universal CAR T platform. With the help of those technologies, Innovent plans to carry out the development and commercialization of the product candidates by itself. Roche, however, retains an option right to license those product candidates for development and commercialization outside of China. Under the terms, Roche would pay $140 million to exercise the option as well as additional development, approval and sales milestone payments of up to $1.96 billion if all candidates are successfully developed and commercialized. Roche will also pay royalties from the double-digit up to the midteen percentage on each product.

$76M series B financing puts more horsepower behind Autobahn’s CNS push

Autobahn Therapeutics Inc. pulled down $76 million in a series B round, emerging from stealth mode. The San Diego-based firm is developing lead candidate ABX-002, a thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist therapy for multiple sclerosis and adrenomyeloneuropathy, a rare genetic disease. The pipeline holds an array of central nervous system programs bolstered by Autobahn’s brain-targeting chemistry platform.

Lycia closes $50M A round for novel targeted protein degradation platform

DUBLIN – Lycia Therapeutics Inc. raised $50 million in series A funding from founding investor Versant Ventures to take forward yet another novel concept in targeted protein degradation. The new company, which will be headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, is building on the work of Carolyn Bertozzi, professor of chemistry at Stanford University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, who has invented bifunctional structures called Lytacs – lysosomal targeting chimeras – which target extracellular or circulating proteins for internalization and lysosomal degradation by tethering them to lysosome targeting receptors at the cell surface.

Soleno’s phase III in Prader-Willi syndrome misses its primary endpoint

Soleno Therapeutics Inc.’s phase III DESTINY PWS (C601) trial evaluating once-daily diazoxide choline controlled-release tablets for treating patients with Prader-Willi syndrome missed its primary endpoint of change from baseline in hyperphagia, an uncontrollable hunger, which is the disease’s predominant syndrome. The study did however show significant improvement in a prespecified group with severe hyperphagia. The genetic disease is rare, with fewer than 20,000 cases diagnosed annually in the U.S. The top-line data results sent the Redwood City, Calif.-based company stock (NASDAQ:SLNO) into a downward spiral as shares traded 39% lower midday Tuesday.

Australia’s CSL builds out its transplant franchise with acquisition of Canadian biotech Vitaeris

PERTH, Australia – CSL Ltd. said its subsidiary, CSL Behring, has agreed to exercise an option to acquire Canadian biotech Vitaeris Inc. for its lead phase III asset for rejection in solid organ kidney transplant patients. The two companies entered a partnership in 2017 to expedite the development of clazakizumab, a humanized anti-interleukin 6 (IL-6) monoclonal antibody, and CSL had the option to acquire Vitaeris in full.

Newco news: Shanghai startup Eccogene bets on small molecules for NASH

BEIJING – After his role as associate director and head of chemistry at Eli Lilly and Co., Brandeis-trained Jingye Zhou founded Eccogene Inc. in Shanghai in 2018 to focus on developing small-molecule drugs for metabolism and immune-related diseases. The preclinical startup is advancing its metabolic pipeline to clinical trials next year and building an immune pipeline with its immunometabolism platform.

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