Spirits were high at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH), buoyed by U.S. FDA approval of the first two gene therapies for sickle cell disease (SCD) the day before the conference kicked off in San Diego.
While early stage and involving a relatively small patient population, the interim phase Ib readout from the combination cohort testing estrogen receptor (ER)-targeting candidate vepdegestrant in combination with CDK4/6 inhibitor Ibrance (palbociclib) in heavily pretreated patients with ER-positive/HER2-negative breast cancer was impressive enough to prompt partners Arvinas Inc. and Pfizer Inc. to expand development work on the program. The results also struck a chord on the Street, with shares of Arvinas (NASDAQ:ARVN) gaining 31% on the day.
Astellas Pharma Inc. has agreed to pay Cullgen Inc. up to $1.9 billion-plus to jointly develop multiple protein degraders. Under the agreement, Tokyo-based Astellas will pay Cullgen, of San Diego, $35 million up front, and an additional $85 million if it decides, during the initial stages of development, to jointly commercialize and promote Cullgen’s lead program, a cell cycle protein degrader for the treatment of breast cancer and other solid tumors, in the U.S.
Biotheryx Inc. has entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with Incyte Corp. to discover and develop targeted protein degraders for novel oncology targets.
Ono Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has entered a worldwide drug discovery collaboration agreement with Captor Therapeutics SA to develop novel small-molecule degrader drugs against a currently undrugged target of interest in neurodegenerative diseases.
Privately held Amphista Therapeutics Ltd. has cut massive deals with two biopharma giants, Merck KGaA and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS), that together could bring the company up to $2.25 billion. The companies will use Amphista’s Eclipsys platform to generate protein degrader-based therapeutics. Merck is looking to discover and develop small-molecule protein degraders for treating cancer and immune disease. Indications in the BMS deal were not announced.
In a deal that could bring Arvinas Inc. a potential $2.4 billion, the company will collaborate with Pfizer Inc. to develop and commercialize an oral estrogen receptor protein degrader. In addition to a potential $400 million in approval milestones and a possible $1 billion in commercial milestones, Arvinas will be paid $650 million up front by Pfizer, which will also make an equity investment of $350 million in Arvinas while receiving about 3.5 million newly issued Arvinas common stock shares. With the deal, Pfizer will have a 7% equity share in Arvinas. The two plan to equally divide development and commercialization costs as well as any profits.
San Diego-based Biotheryx Inc. has raised $92 million in series E financing led by Farallon Capital Management to advance multiple molecular glues, proteolysis-targeting chimeras and monovalent degraders toward the clinic. Its first molecular glue program, BTX-1188, is expected to enter the clinic by the end of this year.
