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The new season has seen a number of biopharma partnership deals this past month. Post the September hiatus in the industry, research and development (R&D) activity in various therapeutic fields is back up again, with major collaborations in cancer care, metabolic diseases, small molecules and gene therapies having taken place.
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In the billions: top biotech and pharma deals in October 2024
Many biotechs joined the billion-dollar club in October with their partnership deals. Massachusetts-based Aliada Therapeutics was among them. Upon its acquisition by AbbVie, it can cash $1.4 billion as part of the agreement. This will see the neuroscience company’s anti-pyroglutamate amyloid beta (3pE-Aβ) antibody ALIA-1758 for Alzheimer’s disease now in the hands of the pharma giant as AbbVie looks to strengthen its central nervous system pipeline.
Also making the big bucks is preclinical-stage Modifi Biosciences. The American biotech was bought for a deal worth up to $1.3 billion by Merck. With this buyout, Merck aims to employ Modifi’s preclinical candidates to repair DNA defects in difficult-to-treat cancers. That’s not the only card that Merck played last month. Its $1.9 billion collaboration with U.K.-based Mestag Therapeutics will further bolster itself in the inflammatory diseases therapeutic space. Mestag’s Reversing Activated Fibroblast Technology (RAFT) platform will help identify novel antibody drug targets, which Merck will have the option to license.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca is pumping money to tackle heart diseases. In a deal valued at nearly $2 billion, AstraZeneca will gain access to China-based CSPC Pharmaceutical’s small molecule, which is designed to lower cholesterol levels in the blood.
Things have been looking up for young British biotech AviadoBio as well. It has snagged more than $2.2 billion after Astellas took licensing control of its dementia gene therapy, which is in phase 1/2 trials. In fact, gene therapies have been in much demand lately. Roche partnered with Massachusetts-based Dyno Therapeutics to use the latter’s gene delivery platform for gene therapy vectors for neurological diseases. Dyno stands to earn over $1.05 billion in upfront and milestone payments.
Chinese and Swiss multinational biopharmas Chengdu Baiyu and Novartis are also in the big leagues as they take on cancer care. Novartis spent more than $1.1 billion for Chengdu’s anti-tumor small molecule, which it now has the full rights to develop and commercialize.
Other pharma giants splurging on drug candidates include Pfizer, Biogen, and Novartis – all in the molecular glue degrader space. Pfizer sorted out a deal crossing $1.5 billion with Massachusetts-based TRIANA Biomedicines to identify novel drugs to treat cancer. Biogen, on the other hand, signed a $1.45 billion deal with California-based Neomorph to target Alzheimer’s and immunological diseases. And, Monte Rosa Therapeutics has handed over the licensing baton of the phase 1 drug MRT-6160 to Novartis. MRT-6160 is a degrader of VAV1, a key signaling protein of both the T- and B-cell receptors. The deal is worth up to $2.25 billion.
Key biotech M&A in October 2024
Of course, AbbVie’s and Merck’s buyouts of Aliada and Modifi respectively topped the M&A charts last month. But there were others in the business too. GSK’s $850 million purchase of Chinese biotech Chimagen Biosciences is one that comes to mind. Now added to GSK’s portfolio is Chimagen’s CMG1A46, a T cell engager designed to treat the autoimmune condition lupus.
Moreover, French multinational Sanofi bagged the global rights of Enjaymo, a biologic which is the only approved targeted drug to treat cold agglutinin disease (CAD), a rare autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of high levels of certain antibodies. This drug belonged to Italian biotech Recordati, which received $825 million upfront. It is eligible to get up to $250 million if all milestones are met.
In cancer therapeutics, two significant acquisition deals took place as well. In California, ImmPACT Bio was bought for around $67.5 million by clinical-stage Lyell Immunopharma. This was a move for Lyell to pocket ImmPACT’s lead CAR-T therapy targeting blood cancer. And Takeda-owned Bridge Medicines’ coveted preclinical leukemia medicine was snapped up by small molecules developer Galecto for an undisclosed amount.
Biotech deals by approach in October 2024
Antibody-drug conjugates: an R&D favorite
In the world of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), South Korean biotech LigaChem Biosciences handed over the worldwide rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize its preclinical drug LCB97 for solid tumors to Japan-based Ono Pharmaceutical. The two also plan to use Ono’s ADC platform to generate new ADC drugs. As a result, Ono is set to gain up to $700 million in upfront and milestone payments.
To add to that, Polish biotechs Ryvu Therapeutics and nCage Therapeutics have joined forces to build an ADC platform that has a better antibody-to-drug ratio (DAR) compared to currently-approved ADCs to make them safer. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Gene therapies see major collaborations
Another field that drew in funds was research and development (R&D) in gene therapy. American biotech Editas Medicine and multinational biopharma Genevant Sciences have agreed to combine Editas’ CRISPR Cas12a genome editing systems with Genevant’s lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology to develop gene editing medicines. The deal will see Genevant receive $238 million in upfront and contingent milestone payments.
Moreover, British biotech Nucleome Therapeutics and Johnson & Johnson are on a mission to map genetic links to autoimmune conditions. With the help of its 3D genomics technology, Nucleome wants to find out what specific DNA changes make people more likely to develop certain autoimmune diseases.
Meanwhile, British biotech ViaNautis Bio and pharma giant Lilly have teamed up to use ViaNautis’ platform to deliver genetic cargos to specific tissues to address a number of diseases. The financial terms were not revealed.
Cancer drug development on the rise
Apart from the M&A deals to boost cancer drug R&D, there were a few other collaborations in the field last month. For instance, Sanofi and Orano Med have come together to advance radioligand therapies (RLTs) to treat rare cancers. Sanofi will make an investment of €300 million ($326.91 million) to Orano.
Artificial intelligence has also stepped up in cancer care. U.K.-based cancer drug developer Avacta and AI-focused Tempus have pledged to examine cancer biology in tumors using datasets comprising primary tumor samples as well as clinical data from over 200,000 patients.
Besides, precision medicine was also in focus last month. German multinational Boehringer Ingelheim and California-based Circle Pharma have made plans to develop a cyclin inhibitor that can halt the growth of cancer cells in difficult-to-treat cancers. The $607 million deal will work with Circle’s candidate CID-078 through the clinic.
Big pharma interest in metabolic diseases continue
As always, interest in targeting metabolic diseases remains strong. And once again, Lilly is in the game. It has partnered with insitro, a California-based drug company, to license the latter’s drug delivery technology to target conditions that affect the liver. Also, the two will develop an antibody against an undisclosed target in metabolic diseases.
That’s not all in this therapeutic field. Pfizer and British company IsomAb have sworn to develop an antibody for peripheral arterial disease, a condition in which the build-up of fat in the arteries restricts blood supply to leg muscles. While financial terms weren’t revealed, the candidate they plan to advance was disclosed. ISM-001 is an antibody designed to neutralize an antibody that hinders the development of new blood vessels.
Lastly, German multinational Bayer formed an alliance with Massachusetts-based Dewpoint Therapeutics in a $424 million deal to treat patients with heart diseases who possess specific mutations. They will boost the clinical development of condensate-modifying drugs, which are designed to target the dysregulation of condensates – organelles that form in cells.
Small molecule development on a roll
Small molecules are also in demand like we’ve seen with the deals with CSPC Pharmaceutical, Bridge Medicines, and Chengdu Baiyu. To add to this, American biotech Ocean Biomedical has dived into a licensing deal with Polish multinational company Molecure to develop YKL-40 inhibitors. These are drugs that block the activity of the protein YKL-40 to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. The deal is priced at $32 million.
Finally, U.S.-based Bright Minds Biosciences and Canadian-American biotech Firefly Neuroscience announced their plans to collaborate on the clinical development of the epilepsy drug BMB-101, an agonist drug that has demonstrated efficacy in animal models of Dravet Syndrome and several models of seizures.
While September saw Flagship try out a new partnership model, and RNA therapeutics and bispecific antibodies that caught the eye of major biopharma players, in October, attention was diverted towards gene therapies, molecular glue degraders, and antibody-drug conjugates. There were also fewer deals in September compared to last month. For instance, there were double the number of billion dollar deals in October when compared to September, which had five.
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