Degrader-antibody conjugates (DACs) are at the heart of the new deal between C4 Therapeutics Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc. C4 will get $10 million up front, milestones that could total $600 million and about $2.5 billion across the entire collaboration.
Systimmune Inc. and Bristol Myers Squibb Co. have joined hands in a co-development deal for bispecific antibody drug conjugate (ADC) BL-B01D1 in a deal worth up to $8.4 billion. The deal falls on the heels of BMS acquiring Mirati Therapeutics in October 2023 for $4.8 billion to add to its oncology pipeline.
Abbvie Inc.’s encore to its $10.1 billion buyout of antibody-drug conjugate specialist Immunogen Inc. took the form of another takeover – this time of Cerevel Therapeutics Inc. for $45 per share in cash, which puts the total equity value at about $8.7 billion and provides Abbvie with “one of the most attractive growth portfolios in the industry,” CEO Richard Gonzalez said.
South Korean pharmaceuticals Celltrion Inc. and Cyron Therapeutics Co. Ltd. are teaming up to discover and develop bispecific and trispecific antibodies, collectively called polyspecific antibodies, under the ₩1.158 trillion (US$882.38 million) joint research agreement inked on Dec. 6. Under the terms, privately held Daegu-based Cyron will discover and develop at least three polyspecific antibodies for blood and solid cancers pre-selected by Incheon-based Celltrion via Cryon’s CD-3 targeting T-cell engager platform that helps engage T cells to attack cancer cells.
Samsung Bioepis Co. Ltd. will partner with South Korean biotech Intocell Inc. to develop antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drugs, continuing the Samsung Group and the wider industry’s hunt for novel ADCs. Under the joint research agreement inked on Dec. 5, the Daejon-based ADC platform technology firm Intocell will supply the Songdo, Incheon-based Samsung Bioepis its linker technology, coined OHPAS, or ortho-hydroxy protected aryl sulfate, upon which Samsung Bioepis will develop ADC drugs for up to five cancer targets.
Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has out-licensed China rights to its colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor inhibitor, pimicotinib, to Merck KGaA in a deal worth up to $605.5 million. Pimicotinib is in phase III trials in patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumors in China, the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Following its acquisition of Jounce Therapeutics Inc. for $95.6 million, Concentra Biosciences LLC lodged another proposal to acquire the U.S. and China biotech Lianbio Co. Ltd. The unsolicited and non-binding proposal filed Nov. 30 by San Diego-based Tang Capital Partners LP, Concentra’s parent firm, offered a 100% cash equity acquisition of the Shanghai- and Princeton, N.J.-based Lianbio at $4.30 per share, ringing up a deal worth around $465 million.
The same mechanism of action deployed by Eli Lilly and Co.’s obesity drug Mounjaro (tirzepatide) helped lure Roche Holding AG to the buyout of Carmot Therapeutics Inc., as the pharma giant agreed to pay $2.7 billion up front for the privately held outfit, promising another $400 million if milestones are met.
Five months since Eli Lilly and Co.’s $2.4 billion buyout of Dice Therapeutics Inc. and its Delscape platform for oral small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions, Lilly rolled the dice again for novel PPI targets by partnering with Japanese biotech Prism Biolab Co. Ltd.
Buying out Immunogen Inc. in a whopper cash deal valued at about $10.1 billion, Abbvie Inc. has major plans for an expanded label on the antibody-drug conjugate Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx), already approved for treating platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
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