The beleaguered genomic medicine biotech Sangamo has traveled a rough road lately, with recent years featuring dashed R&D dreams and a precipitous stock price collapse. Now, the company is filing for bankruptcy and revealing asset sale agreements with a pair of Big Pharmas.
Those companies: Eli Lilly and Astellas have emerged as “stalking horse bidders” for certain assets as part of Sangamo’s bankruptcy process, the biotech announced Tuesday. In revealing the pharmas’ interest in its assets, Sangamo said it has secured “strong baseline" offers as its bankruptcy process gets underway.
On a recent dealmaking streak, Lilly is in line to pick up Sangamo’s capsid delivery platform, zinc finger platform, modular integrase (MINT) platform and its prion disease program ST-506, according to the June 23 release.
As for Astellas, the Japanese pharma intends to scoop up Sangamo’s Fabry disease asset, dubbed isaralgagene civaparvovec. As of last June, Sangamo touted data from a phase 1/2 trial that it said would support an effort to secure an accelerated approval.
During Sangamo’s bankruptcy proceedings, the company said “substantially all” of its assets will be up for sale. Other assets not featured in the Lilly and Astellas agreements include Sangamo’s ST-503 for chronic neuropathic pain, giroctocogene fitelparvovec for hemophilia A and its cell therapy and regulatory T cell (Treg) assets, the biotech said.
Despite boasting high-profile partnerships with several pharmas, Sangamo has faced dwindling cash reserves for years. Roughly 18 months ago, Sangamo was faced with the loss of a key partner when Pfizer walked away from a hemophilia A gene therapy collaboration.
Sangamo stock has dropped by 99% over a 5-year span, showing that its options have dwindled and investors have moved on.
“Following a comprehensive review of available alternatives, we believe this process provides a clear framework to pursue value‑maximizing transactions,” Sangamo CEO Sandy Macrae said in a statement.