Weeks after penning a $110 million upfront deal with Orano Med for the global rights to a neuroendocrine tumor treatment, Sanofi has returned with 300 million euros ($326 million) to set up a more permanent radioligand project.
After sitting on the sidelines of the radioligand race while Big Pharma peers like Novartis and AstraZeneca placed big bets on the space, it appears that Sanofi is making up for lost time. Sanofi’s investment, announced in an Oct. 17 release, will see the company secure a 16% equity stake in a new France-based venture it is creating with Orano.
The new entity, which will operate under the Orano Med brand, will be focused on discovering and developing next-generation radioligand therapies based on lead-212 alpha-emitting isotopes.
“We are excited to partner with Orano in establishing a French pioneer that unites our respective expertise in biopharma and nuclear technology to drive groundbreaking progress in the fight against cancer,” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said in a statement.
“This collaboration is part of a broader effort to strengthen our ties within the scientific community, both in France and globally, with the goal of advancing the development of cutting-edge treatments for patients,” Hudson added.
Sanofi pitched today’s announcement in the context of its move last month to pay Orano Med and its partner RadioMedix 100 million euros upfront and commit up to 220 million euros in sales milestones for the rights to a phase 2-stage targeted alpha therapy, dubbed AlphaMedix. That candidate is designed to deliver a payload to cells that express somatostatin, a receptor found in most neuroendocrine tumors.
Orano said it would use the investment announced today to “further strengthen” the radiopharma biotech and “allow the company to accelerate the development of its pipeline, leveraging its unique capabilities in the discovery and development of lead-212 based therapies.”
“Sanofi’s partnership with Orano Med is a strong recognition of the potential of lead-212 based radioligand therapies to advance the treatment of cancers,” Julien Dodet, president of Orano Med’s governing board, said in the release.
“We look forward to combining Sanofi’s expertise with our R&D and world-class radiopharmaceutical capabilities to advance the development of potentially transformative therapies like AlphaMedix and make them available to patients in need as quickly as possible,” Dodet added.
Even before the initial deal with Orano Med last month, Sanofi’s execs had hinted that the French pharma might consider a move into radiopharma. In response to a question during the company’s second-quarter earnings call in July, Sanofi’s head of R&D Houman Ashrafian, Ph.D., noted the resurgence of interest in radioligand therapy and said the company remained “watchful in this space.”