Top biotech deals of November 2024

The penultimate month of the year saw a lot of biopharmas scouting for fellow biopharmas to advance therapies across different stages through to commercialization. Mergers and acquisitions worth billions were part of this wintry time. Moreover, biotech deals in antibody-drug conjugates, small molecules, antibody therapies, GLP-1 agonists, and precision medicine stood out in November 2024.

Top M&As of November 2024

One of the biggest buyouts last month was Swiss pharma giant Roche’s $1.5 billion dollar acquisition of cell and gene therapy developer Poseida Therapeutics. This will see Roche nab the CAR-T candidate P-BCMA-ALLO1, for multiple myeloma, which is in phase 1 trials, following its partnership with gene delivery company Dyno Therapeutics in October.

Also set to bag more than a billion bucks is U.S.-based Kate Therapeutics. Focused on bringing its treatments for muscle and heart diseases beyond the clinic, Kate is now being purchased by Swiss multinational pharmaceutical Novartis. The latter will broaden its pipeline to address diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and a condition known as X-linked myotubular myopathy – a rare genetic disease that causes muscle weakness – with this acquisition. 

Meanwhile, BioNTech has found a way to strengthen cancer research and development (R&D). It announced that it would buy Chinese biotech Biotheus and gain global rights to BNT327/PM8002, a bispecific antibody that is on a mission to replace checkpoint inhibitor standard of care treatments for solid tumors. Biotheus will receive $800 million, after which it can get up to $150 million in potential milestone payments.

In the mergers department, AlloVir and Kalaris Therapeutics will put their heads together to create eye disease treatments and bring TH103 to the market. TH103 is a humanized, recombinant fusion protein designed to act against VEGF – a protein that can cause abnormal blood vessels to grow in the eye that affects vision – and is in phase 1 trials. The combined company will have $100 million of cash balance, which is anticipated to carry it through to 2026.

Biotech deals by approach in November 2024

Antibody-drug conjugates R&D on a high

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) have yet again made it to the news this month. Japanese biopharma Daiichi Sankyo and South Korean biotech Alteogen have teamed up to develop and commercialize a subcutaneous version of the blockbuster cancer drug Enhertu. Like all ADCs, it is made up of a monoclonal antibody, linker, and a chemotherapy drug. It works by binding to the HER2 protein on cancer cells and releasing the chemotherapy to destroy them. The subcutaneous version will be created with the help of Alteogen’s hyaluronidase-utilizing Hybrozyme Technology ALT-B4. The Daiichi Sankyo-AstraZeneca partnered drug hit $893 million in sales in the second quarter of the year.

As part of the deal, Alteogen can snag up to $280 million in milestone payments apart from the  $20 million it received upfront.

ADC discovery company VelaVigo, which is based in China, and U.S.-based Avenzo Therapeutics have also come together to develop and commercialize a bispecific ADC that targets Nectin4 and TROP2 – highly co-expressed in solid tumors. The Chinese biotech will bag up to $800 million if the ADC does well in the clinic. The two plan to turn in an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the candidate next year.

Moreover, Dutch biotech Synaffix and California-based BigHat Biosciences are designing antibodies to create ADCs by employing machine learning techniques. Previously, BigHat’s artificial intelligence (AI)-powered antibody design platform Milliner was used to design an antibody that was paired with Synaffix’s ADC platform to develop a new ADC. Now, the collaborators strike again to advance an ADC pipeline. The deal will help push BigHat’s ADCs to the clinic. The financial terms were not disclosed.

Informatics and artificial intelligence aid in drug discovery

In a research collaboration, Novartis and American software company Schrödinger have signed an expanded three-year agreement where the Swiss pharma giant will have further access to the latter’s computational predictive modeling technology and informatics platform. This will allow Novartis to deploy Schrödinger’s drug discovery technologies across its research sites. Schrödinger has accepted $150 million upfront, and is eligible to receive up to $892 million in research, development and regulatory milestone payments. If the medicines – for undisclosed targets – that are born from its drug discovery technology reap profits commercially, Schrödinger can gain up to $1.38 billion in milestones.

To add to that, AI has been in the spotlight lately. Last month, French big pharma Sanofi and British drug discovery biotech Healx partnered to address rare diseases. Only around 5% of rare diseases have an approved treatment, so speeding up the drug discovery process can help evaluate more therapeutic options quicker to treat these conditions. The financial terms remain undisclosed.

Biotechs want in on antibodies in November 2024

Merck has eyed up LaNova Medicines’ bispecific antibody LM-299, and will now obtain global rights to developing and commercializing it. LM-299 inhibits both PD-1/PD-L1 and VEGF/VEGFR receptor signaling pathways, releasing a key immune checkpoint while also inhibiting the production of new blood vessels. LaNova will pocket $588 million upfront and $2.7 billion in milestones.

This comes as Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda’s position as a top treatment is predicted to be toppled as new immunotherapies emerge to take on a once-best-selling cancer therapy. 

Other collaborators in antibody development include Swiss company Numab Therapeutics and Japan-based Kaken Pharmaceutical. The Japanese company has received an option to license ND081 in certain Asian territories, in exchange for CHF 13 million ($14.68 million) upfront. ND081 is a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Kaken aims to take it to the clinic soon.

As the healthcare industry is on the hunt for drugs to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a condition where the lungs become scarred, Surrozen and TCGFB join in on the hunt as they partner to develop antibodies that target targeting TGF-β – expressed in IPF. TCGFB is expected to pay $6 million to Surrozen for all TGF-β-related intellectual property.

Small molecules continue on a roll

Partnerships focused on small molecules continue to be forged this month. U.S.-based Vesalius has partnered with GSK to develop small molecule inhibitor drugs for Parkinson’s disease. Vesalius will leverage its platform to identify new drug targets for Parkinson’s disease and GSK will have the option to advance programs against the targets. Vesalius will receive worth of upfront and equity payments to the tune of $80 million, and is eligible to receive up to $570 million in potential preclinical, development and commercial milestone payments.

To discover cancer drug targets, Roche and Massachusetts-based Flare Therapeutics have come together to take advantage of Flare’s proteomic and mass spectrometry platform and expertise. This will help identify small molecules that block transcription factors. The deal value will cross $1.8 billion in milestones and Flare will get a slice of it – $70 million – upfront.

November 2024 partnerships: interest in GLP-1 agonist and an allosteric modulator

During the third quarter of this year, the most popular GLP1-agonist drug Ozempic profited 29.8 billion Danish kroner (around $4.3 billion) in sales. As several biotechs follow suit to make their versions of GLP1s, so have Apollo Therapeutics and Sunshine Lake Pharma. The British biotech Apollo has been granted the rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize APL-18881 (HEC88473), a FGF21/GLP-1 dual receptor agonist, everywhere except China. The drug is currently in phase 2 trials to treat patients with type 2 diabetes. China-based Sunshine Lake will cash in $12 million upfront and get up to $926 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments.

Meanwhile, California-based Acadia Pharmaceuticals has signed a licensing deal with Saniona to grab hold of the latter’s allosteric modulator to treat essential tremor. This is a neurological condition that causes your hands to shake rhythmically. The drug SAN711 is an allosteric modulator of GABA-A that acts selectively for α3 receptors. A phase 2 trial is planned for 2026. Acadia has wagered $28 million in upfront and up to $582 million in milestone payments.

CRISPR, precision medicine, and TRANSCON technology advance in multimillion dollar deals in November

Lithuania-based Caszyme and Spanish biotech Integra Therapeutics have signed a licensing agreement to use the former’s Cas12l nucleases – part of the CRISPR nuclease family – to develop more efficient gene and cell therapies. As part of the deal, Integra will use the genome editor Cas12l in its gene-writing platform, following successful preclinical trials. Caszyme will receive up to €40 million (42.02 million) in milestones.

Moreover, Massachusetts-based Sarepta Therapeutics, a biotech driving R&D in Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapeutics, and California-based Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals are collaborating for a number of clinical and preclinical programs addressing rare, genetic muscular and lung diseases. The $825 million deal will allow Sarepta to select up to six new targets for Arrowhead to conduct discovery and preclinical development activities with the help of its Targeted RNAi Molecule platform.

Also partnering in the precision medicine space are DNA testing company 23andMe – which laid off 40% of its employees last month – and American biotech Mirador Therapeutics. The two will advance therapies for patients with chronic immune-mediated inflammatory and fibrotic diseases combining Mirador’s AI capabilities and 23andMe genetic databases. The financial terms were undisclosed.

While October saw Sanofi and Orano Med plunge into the radiopharmaceutical field together, in November, Novartis sought the assistance of American biotech Ratio Therapeutics’ technology platforms for the development of a somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) radiotherapeutic candidate for cancer. Ratio is expected to earn up to $745 million in upfront and milestone payments.

Finally, pharma giant Novo Nordisk continues its streak with the metabolic and heart diseases therapeutic field. It has tapped Ascendis Pharma to access the latter’s TransCon technology platform. While much is yet to be disclosed about the $285 million deal, it was announced that the initial focus will be on a GLP-1 receptor agonist targeting obesity and type 2 diabetes. 

Deals in therapeutic areas such as small molecules and ADCs spilled over from October to November 2024. However, the gene therapy craze in October didn’t translate in November, instead, more AI- and software-based drug design and discovery strategies came into the picture last month.  

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