Aqilion AB has sold rights to its TAK1 inhibitors to Merck KGaA in an exclusive license and research collaboration agreement worth at least €960 million (US$1.03 billion) including potential milestones and royalties. The global giant will pay the Swedish biotech – which is headquartered in Helsingborg – €10 million in cash up front for the program and potential development and commercialization milestones and tiered royalties on worldwide net sales of more than €950 million.
Insulet Corp. went on a buying spree this week with the acquisition of the assets of Automated Glucose Control LLC (AGC) and Bigfoot Biomedical Inc.'s automated insulin delivery (AID) patents. The Bigfoot and AGC deals each rang in at $25 million.
Bavarian Nordic A/S plans to buy two travel vaccines plus a phase III chikungunya vaccine candidate from Emergent Biosolutions Inc. for about $380 million. Emergent will receive a $270 million up-front payment and perhaps as much as $110 million in future milestone payments. The vaccines are Vivotif, for preventing typhoid fever, and Vaxchora, for preventing cholera caused by Vibrio cholerae serogroup O1. Both oral vaccines have U.S. FDA and European approvals.
Harbour Biomed Holdings Ltd. licensed exclusive U.S. rights to B7H4 x 4-1BB bispecific immune activator HBM-7008 to Cullinan Oncology Inc. in a deal worth up to $625 million. China-based Harbour will obtain a $25 million up-front payment and is eligible to receive up to $600 million in development, regulatory and sales-based milestones, as well as tiered royalties of up to 20% on U.S. commercial sales.
Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. licensed its EZH2 inhibitor, SHR-2554, to Treeline Biosciences Inc. in a deal worth more than $700 million. Treeline will be granted worldwide exclusive rights to the lymphoma drug, except for greater China, in exchange for an up-front payment of $11 million, development milestone payments of up to $45 million, and milestone payments of up to $650 million based on annual net sales once commercialization begins.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. signed a back end-loaded licensing deal worth up to $692.5 million with CSPC Megalith Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd., for the latter’s Nectin-4-targeting antibody-drug conjugate CRB-701 (SYS-6002).
Zhimeng Biopharma Inc. found a global partner for its hepatitis B virus (HBV) program, licensing rights to GSK plc for CB-06, an oral small-molecule Toll-like receptor 8 agonist. Pending positive data from an ongoing phase I study, GSK will gain rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize the drug for chronic HBV infection, either for use in combination or as a sequential treatment with bepirovirsen.
In its first worldwide licensing deal in the cardiovascular space, Ji Xing Pharmaceuticals Ltd. acquired rights to preclinical-stage PB-6440, in development for diseases including hypertension, from Phasebio Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. signed a back end-loaded licensing deal worth up to $692.5 million with CSPC Megalith Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd., for the latter’s Nectin-4-targeting antibody-drug conjugate CRB-701 (SYS-6002).
Bayer AG acquired Blackford Analysis Ltd., a British developer of artificial intelligence systems that help make diagnoses using medical images in the U.K. and U.S. The companies did not disclose any financial details. “This deal is part of our strategy to drive innovation in radiology, including the development and adoption of AI within the workflow, with the goal of ultimately improving patient care and advance our position in digital medical imaging,” Stefan Oelrich, a board member at Bayer AG and president of Bayer’s pharmaceutical division, told BioWorld.
RSS
