Novartis AG, keen to expand its central nervous system franchise as generics chase down crown jewel Gilenya (fingolimod), has secured rights from UCB SA to co-develop and commercialize two potential Parkinson's disease therapies for $150 million up front and milestone payments approaching $1.5 billion.
Japan’s Astellas Pharma Inc. is continuing its investment in gene therapies, following up its $3 billion acquisition of Audentes Therapeutics Inc. with a technology licensing deal with Dyno Therapeutics Inc. potentially worth more than $1.6 billion. Central to the deal is Cambridge, Mass.-based Dyno’s adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector technology, which can be used to direct gene therapies to skeletal and cardiac muscle.
Ildong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. inked a partnership with Shionogi & Co. Ltd. to co-develop S-217622, the latter’s orally administered 3CL protease inhibitor treating COVID-19 and has obtained an IND for a phase II/III trial in South Korea to enroll more than 200 patients who are asymptomatic or suffering from mild to moderate COVID-19.
The Netherlands-based Synaffix BV has expanded a deal focusing on its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) linker tech with U.S. cancer biotech Mersana Therapeutics Inc., with the revised contract potentially paying out more than $1 billion. Privately owned Synaffix is hoping to ride a wave of interest in ADC technology, which is finally coming of age more than two decades after the first drug of this type was approved.
Zenas Biopharma LLC in-licensed the global right to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the antibody obexelimab from Xencor Inc. to treat autoimmune diseases in a deal worth up to $480 million. Under the agreement, Monrovia, Calif.-based Xencor gained the rights to acquire additional shares in U.S. and China-based Zenas, which will bring its total equity up to 15%.
Bright Peak Therapeutics Inc. has licensed rights to use Livzon Mabpharm Inc.’s anti-PD-1 candidate, LZM-009, to develop its own PD-1 targeted immunocytokines (PD-1 ICs). Bertolt Kreft, chief scientific officer for Bright Peak, told BioWorld that Livzon’s phase II anti-PD-1 “exhibits a promising initial safety and efficacy profile, making it well-suited to the task.
Glaxosmithkline plc (GSK) tapped Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. for its foray into nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), as the pair signed an exclusive global licensing deal (excluding China) for GSK to develop and commercialize phase I/II-stage ARO-HSD, Arrowhead’s RNAi therapy targeting HSD17B13.
DUBLIN – A meaty licensing deal with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. is as good a time as any to unveil a new corporate identity. Nykode Therapeutics AS, the Norwegian immunotherapy firm formerly known as Vaccibody, is banking $30 million up front, another $20 million as an equity investment, and could earn up to $875 million more in development and commercial milestones across a multiproduct deal to develop vaccines for cancer and infectious disease.
DUBLIN – Sanifit Therapeutics SA has found a taker for its phase III calcification inhibitor for kidney dialysis patients, SNF-472, in the shape of Vifor Pharma AG, which is acquiring the Spanish company outright for €205 million (US$231 million) up front, up to €170 million in potential clinical development, regulatory and market access milestones, as well as undisclosed commercial milestones.
Cytovia Therapeutics Inc. and Cellectis SA expanded their existing partnership to include new chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) target and development in China by Cytovia’s joint venture firm, Cytolynx Therapeutics Hong Kong Ltd.
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