Big pharma continues to invest heavily into molecular glue degraders. The latest deal has Eisai Co. Ltd. striking up a research collaboration that could bring Seed Therapeutics Inc. up to $1.5 billion in up-front and milestone payments. The two said they plan to discover, develop and commercialize MGDs for several undisclosed neurodegeneration and oncology targets.
Mediwound Ltd. reported that the Nexobrid expanded treatment access protocol achieved complete debridement in 94.9% of adults and all children treated and removed all eschar within 24 hours. The results put more power behind a partnership with Vericel Corp. that introduced Nexobrid, an enzymatic debridement agent for severe thermal burns, into the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2023 and increases the likelihood of an indication expansion into pediatrics.
Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) has terminated its $1.3 billion-plus deal for Agenus Inc.’s anti-TIGIT bispecific antibody AGEN-1777 as part of a promised belt-tightening. In May 2021, BMS paid Agenus a non-refundable $200 million up-front payment in cash for the licensing, manufacturing and commercialization agreement, then a $20 million milestone payment in December 2021 and another clinical milestone payment in January 2024 for $25 million.
Vir Biotechnology Inc.’s focus will look a little different for the latter half of 2024, as the San Francisco-based firm disclosed a restructuring that will cut about a fourth of its workforce and phase out programs targeting influenza and COVID-19 as well as vaccines developed using its T-cell-based viral vector platform.
Tokyo-headquartered Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said Aug. 1 that it will acquire Boston-based Jnana Therapeutics Inc. through a potential $1.125 billion M&A deal. Under the terms, Otsuka will work to close the transaction by the third quarter of 2024, with $800 million paid out to Jnana shareholders, along with up to $325 million in additional development and regulatory milestones payments.
Ideaya Biosciences Inc. bought global rights to Biocytogen Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s cancer-targeting bispecific antibody-drug conjugate (bsADC) program in a deal reaching up to $406.5 million. Announced July 31, San Francisco-based Ideaya agreed to license-in global rights to Biocytogen’s B7H3/PTK7 bispecific ADC program with topoisomerase-I (TOP1) payload to develop as either a monotherapy or combination therapy for solid tumors.
Instil Bio Inc. plans re-energize the company by in-licensing the development and commercial rights to antibodies outside of China from Shanghai-based Immuneonco Biopharmaceuticals Inc. In return, Immuneonco is getting an undisclosed up-front payment and the chance for near-term payments of up to $50 million.
The dealmaking continues at Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH as it plans to buy Nerio Therapeutics Inc. for $1.3 billion. The German company is bolstering its cancer programs with the Nerio acquisition, which will be added to multibillion-dollar deals cut earlier this year for cancer immunotherapies and nonalcoholic or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (NASH/MASH) treatments.
Ipsen SA, of Paris, struck a $461 million deal with Day One Biopharmaceuticals Inc. for ex-U.S. rights to tovorafenib, an oral drug for pediatric brain tumor that gained U.S. FDA accelerated approval April 23 as Ojemda (tovorafenib).
SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. signed a simple agreement for a future equity (SAFE) deal totaling $2 million with Hingham, Mass.-based Sunflower Therapeutics PBC on July 25 to secure both Sunflower’s equity and its yeast-based protein manufacturing technology. The conditional agreement will grant SK Bioscience future equity rights in Sunflower without the need for immediate valuation, allowing for minimal investment.
RSS
