Pharma Investment Roundup 02/12/2021

Blueprint Medicines to buy Lengo Therapeutics

29-Nov-2021

American firm Blueprint has announced plans to acquire Lengo Therapeutics. The purchase comes at a cost of $250m and up to $215m milestone-related payments in the future. Blueprint Medicines specialises in immuno-oncological therapies, and the acquisition of Lengo is expected to expand their pipeline portfolio, including LNG-451 – a promising agent against lung cancer that can cross the blood-brain barrier. The acquisition continues a growing trend of progress and development in the field of immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumours – a field that has long been in need of significant innovation. CEO of Blueprint Medicines, Jeff Albers, had the following to say in the press release for the acquisition:

“Our acquisition of Lengo Therapeutics deepens our commitment to advancing precision oncology therapies and specifically expands our opportunity to transform treatment for patients with EGFR-driven lung cancer. The Lengo team has done tremendous work in designing a highly selective therapeutic candidate tailored to the needs of patients with EGFR exon 20 lung cancer, including features with the potential to enable treatment or prevention of brain metastases.”

Gilead selects Amazon Web Services as cloud partner

29-Nov-2021

Tech giant Amazon announced on Monday that it had been selected by Gilead Sciences to be its cloud provider. This partnership is expected to improve Gilead’s digital infrastructure and capabilities, with use of cutting-edge machine learning and analytics technologies. It is expected that the deal with Amazon will allow Gilead to transform its Enterprise Resource Planning potential. Beyond that, Gilead and AWS experts in the life sciences will be collaborating on improving processes throughout the company in order to enhance study and clinical trial design, patient experience, monitoring and statistics. Such changes are expected to refine Gilead’s clinical trial management. The move is indicative of the need for pharmaceutical companies to continuously innovate and improve their digital processes – whether that be in R&D, drug discovery, or operations.

Confo Therapeutics to collaborate with Regeneron

30-Nov-2021

Belgian firm Confo announced a new partnership with established antibody firm Regeneron. Confo will leverage its drug discovery platform, which specialises in conformationally-selective ConfoBodies, which are single domain antibodies (VHH), that can maintain disease-relevant target proteins in therapeutically active conformations. Regeneron hopes that this platform will assist in finding novel antibody candidates for their own pipeline, and will award Confo with the typical upfront and milestone-based payments accordingly. 

Cedric Ververken, CEO of Confo Therapeutics, conveyed his enthusiasm about working with one of the most well-known players in the antibody field in the following statement:

“With ten medicines approved by regulatory authorities, Regeneron is regarded in our industry as one of the most effective antibody discovery and development companies, with a successful track record of translating scientific insight into effective and innovative treatments. Working with them underscores the significant potential of our technology platform, in particular our new application to generate antibody drug candidates, and its promise to unveil GPCR drug targets and overcome a range of limitations of current approaches”

Aspen signs non-binding term sheet for licensing J&J jab

30-Nov-2021

South African Aspen Pharmacare announced last Tuesday that it had signed non-binding terms with Johnson & Johnson’s subsidiaries for a licensing deal to produce the J&J single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. Prospects remain high for the deal to be finalised in early 2022. This move comes amid concerns regarding global vaccine equity – with no other African company having yet received the rights to produce any COVID-19 vaccine, which would make Aspen the first to do so. These news caught the attention of the World Health Organisation, with the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidisho Moeti, saying:

“We welcome this agreement. It is a major development which will help reduce the inequities Africa is facing in accessing COVID-19 vaccines. This cooperation and technology transfer arrangement is an important step forward towards increasing Africa’s manufacturing capacity and the push to ramp up access to vaccines and other key medical intervention”

Astellas Pharma partners with Dyno Therapeutics

01-Dec-2021

Japanese firm Astellas Pharma announced an agreement with American Dyno Therapeutics to develop adeno-associated virus (AAV) using Dyno’s CapsidMap™ platform. The agreement will see Dyno design the capsids and optimize them for gene therapy, with Astellas retaining responsibility for preclinical, clinical and commercial development. Dyno will receive $18m upfront, with potential for earnings up to $1.6b over the course of the partnership. This follows a series of similar deals that Dyno Therapeutics has signed, including one with Roche in 2020.

Suono Bio signs patent license agreement with MIT

01-Dec-2021

American company Suono Bio has announced an exclusive world-wide patent agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The agreement gives Suono Bio access to technology developed by MIT laboratories, where the founders of Suono Bio worked. Suono Bio specializes in treating gastrointestinal diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease; the licensed patents are expected to allow Suono to develop technologies for the efficient administration of treatments. Suono’s current pipelines include antibody and RNA therapeutics, as well as small molecule candidates. 

Sanofi acquires Origimm – boost to vaccine development

01-Dec-2021

French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi has announced its acquisition of Austrian Origimm Biotechnology, with the acquisition expected to close by the end of 2021. Origimm brings with its portfolio of vaccine candidates, particularly ORI-001 – an early stage candidate which targets acne vulgaris. The acquisition is also expected to provide a significant boost to Sanofi’s mRNA vaccine development platform, which is in need of reinforcements after Sanofi fell behind in the race to innovate mRNA-based vaccines for COVID-19. Thomas Triomphe, Executive Vice President of Sanofi Pasteur highlighted the impact of a vaccine for treating acne and other skin diseases in a statement regarding the acquisition:

“The acquisition of Origimm further broadens our vaccines R&D pipeline with a first vaccine candidate against acne, a high medical need for millions of teenagers and adults,” says Thomas Triomphe, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Sanofi Pasteur. “Welcoming Origimm within Sanofi expands our area of expertise by bringing extensive know-how in the field of skin microbiome and skin immunology. We look forward to unlocking the full potential of this candidate”

GSK to enter new £30m partnership with Oxford University

02-Dec-2021

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has launched a new partnership with the University of Oxford, which will see it open a new institute in Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Health. This will be known as the Institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine. The deal is valued at £30 million and will accelerate drug discovery by exploiting insights from human genetics as well as employing advanced technologies such as functional genomics and machine learning. The deal comes on the heels of Oxford University partnering with rival AstraZeneca – clearly a signal for the power of academic partnerships in the industry. Prime Minister Boris Johnson commented on the collaboration:

“I am delighted to see that GSK and the University of Oxford are today taking further steps to deepen our understanding of some of the most complex diseases, such as Parkinson’s. Together they will harness the power of scientific collaboration to progress cutting-edge technologies and accelerate drug discovery – helping to cement the UK’s role as a life sciences superpower.” 

CSL To Acquire Vifor Pharma

02-Dec-2021

Australian biotech giant CSL is currently in talks to acquire Swiss Vifor Pharma, in a deal whose value is reported to surpass $10b. CSL has maintained a strong focus on vaccine, antivenom, blood disorder-related and immunoglobulin-based products. The acquisition of Vifor Pharma would see it expand its portfolio to intravenous iron therapies as well as expand its focus to new areas of biotech and medicine, including heart failure, nephrology and gastroenterology. The deal is reportedly in the due diligence stage, although CSL has not confirmed the stage of the talks yet, with further news expected within weeks. 

UCB to work with Novartis

02-Dec-2021

Belgian UCB announced on Thursday that it will be entering an agreement with Novartis, worth $1.5 billion, for the development and commercialisation of its two Parkinson’s drug candidates, UCB0599 and UCB7853. UCB will receive an upfront payment of $150m, with the potential for up to $1.5b over the course of the partnership. Its antibody-based treatments include a first-in-class alpha-synuclein misfolding inhibitor (UCB0599) while UCB7853 is already in Phase I trials. The Chief Scientific Officer of UCB, Dhaval Patel, commented on the possibility of knowledge transfer and overall collaboration with Novartis:

“It is a great example of our approach to research and development in neurodegeneration, building external networks and partnerships to access additional capabilities and knowledge that help to accelerate the development of our medicines.”