- PMLiVE
Sanofi has announced that it will be broadening its immunology pipeline by acquiring Dren Bio’s phase 1 CD20-directed bispecific myeloid cell engager for $600m upfront.
Pre-clinical and early clinical studies have already demonstrated DR-0201’s ability to induce robust B-cell depletion via targeted phagocytosis.
Recent data has indicated that deep B-cell depletion might have the potential to reset the body’s adaptive immune system, leading to sustained treatment-free remission in patients with refractory B-cell mediated autoimmune diseases such as lupus.
“Deep B-cell depletion is at the frontier of treating autoimmune diseases and using the myeloid cell engager DR-0201 has the potential to elevate the treatment effect for patients, in particular patients refractory to existing treatments,” said Houman Ashrafian, head of research and development at Sanofi.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, Sanofi will gain access to DR-0201 by acquiring Dren’s affiliate Dren-0201 for an upfront payment of $600m and potential future milestones totalling $1.3bn.
Dren’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Nenad Tomasevic, said: “It has been a privilege to advance our lead platform programme DR-0201 into clinical development and evaluate its potential to achieve potent B-cell depletion.
“As a leader in immunology, Sanofi is ideally positioned to unlock the power of deep B-cell depletion and immune reset for autoimmune patients with this novel myeloid cell engager.”
The acquisition is not Sanofi’s first deal of the year, after the drugmaker entered into an agreement in January to use Alloy Therapeutics’ antisense platform to develop a central nervous system drug.
The target specific collaboration and licensing deal, worth over $427m, gives Sanofi access to Alloy’s AntiClastic Antisense platform to develop a genetic medicine capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier.
Sanofi also recently expanded its agreement with SK bioscience to develop, licence and commercialise next-generation pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) for both paediatric and adult populations. The agreement built on the partners’ existing collaboration to develop and commercialise a 21-valent paediatric PCV, which has now entered late-stage clinical development.