With a growing number of deals worth $1 billion or more, 2021 values are slowly inching past 2020’s record year, as mergers and acquisitions also move higher, indicating a potentially stronger second half of the year.
Tracon Pharmaceuticals Inc. tapped Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s wholly owned subsidiary, Eucure Biopharma Co. Ltd., for U.S. rights to CTLA4 antibody YH-001, which it plans to use in immunotherapy studies in combination with its PD-L1 inhibitor.
Poseida Therapeutics Inc.’s R&D Day in February – where much of its technology was made public for the first time – created “a flood of interest” in deals and officials were “pretty selective,” said CEO Eric Ostertag, whose remarks came as the company nailed down a whopping research collaboration and exclusive license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The arrangement will deploy Poseida’s Piggybac and Cas-CLOVER, as well as biodegradable DNA and RNA nanoparticle delivery technology and other genetic engineering platforms to come up with as many as eight gene therapies.
Selecta Biosciences Inc. joined a licensing agreement with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to develop AAV-driven gene therapies for two lysosomal storage disorders that could bring Watertown, Mass.-based Selecta up to $1.124 billion. The payments depend upon hitting development or commercial milestones. Selecta is also receiving an undisclosed up-front payment and is eligible for tiered royalties on commercial sales.
PERTH, Australia – Cynata Therapeutics Ltd. has regained rights to its Cymerus mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) product, CYP-001, for graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) from former licensee Fujifilm Corp., with the two companies negotiating a new partnership under which Fujifilm will manufacture the product.
Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. and JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. have negotiated a geographically-focused licensing deal to develop and commercialize JR-141 (pabinafusp alfa), a potential therapy for mucopolysaccharidosis type II, also known as Hunter syndrome.
Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. Ltd., its U.S.-based subsidiary Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. have inked a global collaboration agreement to jointly advance four new compounds for serious neuropsychiatric conditions. Sunovion granted Otsuka rights to collaboratively develop and commercialize the four compounds worldwide. In return, Sunovion will receive an up-front payment of $270 million and up to $620 million in development milestone payments for the agents, with the potential for more depending on additional indications. It could also receive sales milestones from Otsuka.
Denmark’s Union Therapeutics A/S has begun a strategic collaboration with Innovent Biologics Inc. over orismilast, a next-generation oral PDE4 inhibitor for inflammatory dermatology conditions that could compete directly with Amgen Inc.’s psoriasis blockbuster, Otezla (apremilast). At the same time, the company is looking for partners in the medium term to develop the drug in the rest of the world as it bids to take on Amgen and other dermatology players such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
While 2020 is certainly a hard year to beat, 2021 has so far recorded a respectable amount of biopharma deals and is on track to exceed every other year. The number this year, including licensings, collaborations and joint ventures, is trailing 2020 by only 3%. BioWorld has recorded 1,447 deals valued at $131.75 billion in 2021 vs. 1,488 worth $141.56 billion last year. That puts 2021 about 7% behind 2020 on deal values.
Everest Medicines Ltd. has in-licensed a Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor for the treatment of renal diseases from Suzhou Sinovent Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. and Sinomab Bioscience Ltd. in a deal worth up to $561 million. Everest gained global rights to develop, produce and commercialize the candidate, XNW-1011.
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