Now that Sanofi-Aventis has finished trimming some of its marginal drug development programs, the French pharma is reloading its pipeline with a licensing deal for a preclinical antibody advanced by Japan's Kyowa Hakko Kirin. Sanofi says that the inflammation deal will be worth up to $315 million in upfront fees and milestones for Kyowa. The companies didn't break that number down.
Sanofi snared worldwide rights to the anti-light fully human monoclonal antibody, with a co-promotion pact in place for Japan and Asia. The program will initially test the antibody's effectiveness against ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease and, depending on the data, could be further pursued into rheumatoid arthritis.
"There are very important breakthroughs in the field of inflammation but unfortunately not all patients benefit from these new therapies," said Marc Cluzel, senior vice president of research and development. "Anti-light antibody may represent an alternative therapy for those patients."
- read the report from Reuters
- read the story from Hays Pharma