Amgen has ended its alliance with Entera Bio. The partners entered into a $270 million, three-molecule deal in 2018 but have agreed to scuttle the collaboration before reaching any major milestones.
Entera landed the deal on the strength of an oral drug delivery technology. The biotech uses protease inhibitors to stop enzymatic degradation and molecules to enhance absorption. In doing so, Entera thinks it can address the main barriers to the oral delivery of large molecules and support development of more convenient treatments.
Amgen saw promise in the idea but never placed a major bet on Entera. Rather, the Big Biotech paid $725,000 upfront to secure rights to use intellectual property and source preclinical R&D services. Later payments for Entera’s preclinical R&D services brought Amgen’s total outlay on the collaboration up to $1.7 million.
That is all Entera will receive in relation to the deal. The former partners agreed to stop their research collaboration and license agreement “out of mutual convenience.” Neither company will pay a penalty or any fees in connection with the termination of the agreement.
The relationship is ending after four years of collaborative preclinical work to evaluate the use of Entera’s delivery technology with one molecule selected by Amgen. Entera will retain all the intellectual property rights to its drug delivery technology, and Amgen will keep hold of its molecules and “any subsequent improvements.”
Parting ways with Amgen leaves Entera focused on finalizing talks with the FDA about a registrational phase 3 study in postmenopausal women with low bone mineral density and osteoporosis plus work on a pharmacokinetic study of a hypoparathyroidism candidate.
The biotech is running low on cash. With $10.7 million to its name at the end of March, Entera expects to run out of cash in the third quarter of next year. Top-line results in hypoparathyroidism are due later this year.