Summary

Sanofi has decided to shut down Kiadis, a biotech firm specializing in natural killer (NK) cell therapies, just three and a half years after its acquisition for $357 million. The termination was related to a clinical trial for SAR445419, an off-the-shelf NK cell therapy for R/R AML. Similarly, Genentech, a Roche subsidiary, has terminated a $3 billion partnership with Adaptimmune Therapeutics. Adaptimmune remains focused on advancing its late-stage autologous pipeline, particularly its afami-cel therapy for advanced synovial sarcoma.

Despite an intensifying geopolitical headwind, a small group of China biotech insiders have found out a success formula that leverages the booming China biotech innovations to achieve industry-leading success. In a Fierce Biotech article, some insiders, including our editor Leon Tang, share their experiences and advice on how to leverage Chinese innovations. Our editor Leon Tang proposes a provocative formula: Chinese innovative asset + US clinical development + Global fundraising and deal-making = success.

Other biotech news include Vertex Pharmaceutical’s $4.9Bn acquisition of Alpine Immune Science, U.S. Department of Justice’s Complaint against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for alleged Medicare reimbursement misconduct, and other news from Asia biotech space. 

Bioverse webinar has a new record! Almost 20,000 people attended our AACR2024 Recap webinar last week, and we have received a large quantity of positive feedback from fans around the world. You can watch the replay and download the PDF slides here.



Send your comments and feedback to partnership@iswtb.com.

Two Big Pharma Withdraw from Cell Therapy Amidst Economic Constraints and Strategic Shifts

Last week, amidst restructuring and reprioritizing their investment portfolios, two big pharma announced their withdrawal from cell therapy projects.

Sanofi has decided to shut down Kiadis, a biotech firm specializing in natural killer (NK) cell therapies, just three and a half years after its acquisition for $357 million. This decision was revealed in an April 8 update related to a clinical trial for SAR445419, an off-the-shelf NK cell therapy for R/R AML, where the trial was terminated due to the "divestment of Kiadis"as noted in the clinical trial database. However, Sanofi clarified later that the divestment attempt failed. Despite exploring potential divestment options, including a sale, Sanofi has chosen to close the Kiadis operations due to market conditions and strategic realignments. This marks the end of Kiadis, which has been developing therapies since its founding in 1997 in Amsterdam, utilizing allogeneic NK cells from a universal donor without gene editing. This decision comes when Sanofi is undergoing a significant pipeline prioritization, aiming to save €700 million including shifting resources from oncology to immunology,

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Similarly, Genentech, a Roche subsidiary, has terminated a $3 billion partnership with Adaptimmune Therapeutics that was initiated in 2021. The collaboration aimed to develop allogeneic iPSC T-cell therapies, including both off-the-shelf and personalized treatments. Despite receiving an upfront payment of $150 million and additional milestone payments totaling $35 million, the partnership will conclude this Fall. This move aligns with Genentech's broader organizational restructuring, which includes a 3% reduction in its workforce. Nonetheless, Adaptimmune remains focused on advancing its late-stage autologous pipeline, particularly its afami-cel therapy for advanced synovial sarcoma, which has received FDA priority review with a PDUFA date of Aug 4th 2024.

These developments highlight a broader trend within the pharmaceutical industry, where the economic challenges and the unique high cost of cell therapy R&D are leading companies to reconsider their commitments to this innovative but high-risk area.(Press Release, Endpoint) — Jiamin Zhuo

China Biotech Insiders’ Success Formula

During the current China biotech out-licensing boom, China-originated phase I ADC assets have closed deals that range from $7.5M upfront payment, 170M upfront payment, to $1.8Bn cash M&A. To explain the 240-fold cash payment difference between the lowest upfront and the highest M&A, the concept of “China discount” was introduced by a China biotech insider in a Fierce Biotech article last week.

How can small biotechs, especially those from China, stand out in the competitive global #BusinessDevelopment and #FundRaising market today and avoid “China discount”? My advice is "to develop a #differentiated product backed by #Quality #ClinicalData in the US”.

In this Fierce Biotech article, China biotech insiders Bing Yuan from OnCusp Therapeutics, Athena Countouriotis MD from Avenzo Therapeutics, and Simone Song from ORI Capital (the lead investor of CG Oncology), and I shared our thoughts on how to acquire a fair share of created value for our companies or clients. Having analyzed the cases mentioned in the article and reflected the deals I have involved, I came up a simple success formula: 

Chinese innovative asset + US clinical development + Global fundraising and deal-making = success.

Turning Point Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb), Aiolos Bio (acquired by GSK), and ProfoundBio (acquired by Genmab) have validated this #SuccessFormula. The recent oversubscribed fundraisings of OnCusp Therapeutics, Avenzo Therapeutics, and ProfoundBio suggest that investors believed they were the next winners, according to a report from Locust Walk. Indeed, ProfoundBio was acquired last week by Genmab, merely 2 months after the series B led by Ally Bridge Group, which resulted in a 2,000%+ #IRR for the Series B investors! (https://lnkd.in/eF9asGzr).

Disease has no borders, neither should #lifesaving innovative drugs, nor would #Investors' #FiduciaryDuty to maximize risk-adjusted #ROI for their #LimitedPartner(s) — Adapted from Leon Tang’s LinkedIn post.

Global Biotech News

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has acquired Alpine Immune Sciences for $4.9 billion in cash. The deal provides Vertex access to Alpine’s potential treatment for chronic kidney disease. Alpine’s lead molecule, povetacicept, has shown promise in treating IgA nephropathy (IgAN), a serious autoimmune kidney disease. The acquisition aims to enhance Vertex’s capabilities in protein engineering and immunotherapy. — Leon Tang

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a complaint against Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for allegedly inflating Medicare reimbursement rates for its eye drug Eylea. Regeneron is accused of withholding details about credit card processing fees, which artificially increased the drug’s average sales prices. Medicare paid over $25 billion for Eylea between 2012 and 2023. Regeneron denies the allegation. — Leon Tang

Other Biotech News from Asia includes Carvykit beat Abecma with a wider FDA label that grants their use in the second line treatment of multiple myeloma while Abecma was approved up to the third line treatment; Fujifilm plans to invest $1.2Bn in a plant in the US and employ 1,400; Boehringer teams up Sino Biopharm in a broad oncology partnership in China; China’s D3 Bio raised $62M in new financing round led by a top European biotech investor Medicxi; and other Asia biotech news. — Angus Liu

BioVerse Webinar, Where Science Sparks Business

19,918 attendees around the world joined the live online seminar titled Recap of AACR2024 on April 11th from 9AM to 10:30AM EDT, a new #BioverseWebinar record!

We sincerely thank Lihua Yu from LifeMine Therapeutics, Cassian Yee from MD Anderson Cancer Center, Jeff Bockman and Viraj Parekh from Lumanity to join this very insightful 90-min webinar and share your decades of experiences in #oncology #DrugDevelopment and #BasicResearch

We talked about the #MarketMoving abstracts, the #whitehot #ADC and #Radiopharmaceuticals, the rise of Asian biotech, and the new #DrugTarget(s) and #MechanismOfAction(s).

The few #takeaways the webinar:

🔔 #PD1 x #CTLA4 #bispecific #cadonilimab's Phase 3 COMPASSION-15 trial for #GastricCancer raised more questions than it answered.

🔔 Moderna stock's brief jump after their head and neck cancer vaccine was likely a #HaloEffect caused by the impressive #PancreaticCancer #CancerVaccine data presented by Vinod Balachandran.

🔔 Daiichi Sankyo US, Merck/Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., ProfoundBio, and Innate Pharma showed encouraging data of their #FirstInClass or #BestInClass data. #ADC from #ChinaBiotech is one of the highlight at AACR2024, especially #bispecific #ADC.

🔔 A #Plenary lecture by Aviv Regev from Genentech showed a strong use case of #AI for oncology.

🔔 #KRAS G12V, #P53 V220C, Pan-RAS, #PROTAC, and #undruggable targets are worth a close watch as well.

You can now watch the 4K high resolution replay on YouTube and download the PDF presentation. This summary was initially published on LinkedIn



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The Partnering Corner

This corner was designed to foster collaboration among the readers and the participating companies. The corner currently has two companies (GSK and JucaBio, and ) looking for asset to in-license, as well as one BD consulting firm ISWT BioAdvisory looking for new clients.