With nearly a quarter of the activity announced in March focused on COVID-19, the first quarter of 2020 appears to be on target to beat the deal and M&A values of two of the last three years, although it remains behind 2019. Despite the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, let alone the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the industry has fared relatively well in terms of dealmaking so far this year, even as the markets have plummeted and partnering events have moved to a virtual format. In fact, deals should logically increase as the pandemic takes its toll on the economy, according to a biopharma executive who responded to a recent J.P. Morgan survey.
Second Genome Inc. (SG) CEO Karim Dabbagh said his firm’s deal with Gilead Sciences Inc. is “pretty significant, given some of the other deals in the microbiome and inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] space,” telling BioWorld the potential $1.5 billion-plus agreement involves “biomarkers in multiple disease areas on five of Gilead’s portfolio programs in inflammation, fibrosis and oncology. Associated with that is a drug discovery collaboration around five targets in the context of IBD.”
Fate Therapeutics Inc. inked a multiyear, global collaboration worth up to $3 billion with Janssen Biotech Inc., which calls for the latter to contribute antigen binding domains for up to four tumor-associated targets.
DUBLIN – Les Laboratoires Servier SAS has thrown its partner Symphogen A/S a lifeline by agreeing to a takeover deal in which the Danish firm will become Servier’s center of excellence for antibody development.
With an eye to continued pipeline expansion, Horizon Therapeutics plc has agreed to pay $45 million up front plus milestones to acquire stealth startup Curzion Pharmaceuticals Inc., the developer of a potential therapy for diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc).
HONG KONG – China’s I-Mab Biopharma Co. Ltd. has entered a strategic partnership with Indonesia’s PT Kalbe Genexine Biologics (KG Bio). Through the deal, KG Bio will receive the right of first negotiation to commercialize two I-Mab-discovered candidates in the ASEAN and MENA regions as well as Sri Lanka.
BEIJING – Osaka-based Japanese infectious disease specialist Shionogi & Co. Ltd. said it will partner with Chinese insurance giant Ping An to establish a data-driven joint venture to develop new drugs in a deal involving ¥33.53 billion (US$311 million). It also plans to tap into immuno-oncology to address the patent cliff of its HIV drugs. Under the terms, the Japanese pharma will sell a 2.05% voting stake, or 6.35 million shares of its common stock, to Ping An for ¥33.53 billion. Shionogi will own 51% of the joint venture while Ping An owns 49%, Shionogi IR group manager Kunihiro Mera told BioWorld.
DUBLIN – Without particularly looking for a deal, immunometabolism specialist Sitryx Ltd. landed quite a large one – a licensing agreement in autoimmune disease with Eli Lilly and Co. involving up to four preclinical programs, for which it is receiving $50 million up front, $10 million as equity investment and up to $820 million in development milestones.
BEIJING – Suzhou-based Innovent Biologics Inc. has inked a deal with Alector Inc. to obtain the rights of the U.S. biotech’s AL-008, a dual function anti-SIRP-alpha (anti-signal regulatory protein-alpha) antibody, to develop and commercialize it for oncology indications in China.
LONDON – Evox Therapeutics Ltd. has validated its exosome drug delivery technologies in a $882 million deal with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., in which the partners will develop protein replacement and messengerRNA (mRNA) therapies in five rare disease indications. As an indicator of the potential therapeutic power of exosome delivery, the lead program in the collaboration rests on the ability of exosomes to cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver a correct copy of the NPC1 gene, to treat the inherited neurodegenerative disorder, Niemann-Pick type C.
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