Regeneron and Sanofi have restructured their global immuno-oncology discovery and development agreement for new immuno-oncology cancer treatments, with Sanofi set to pay $462 million to end the collaboration early.
The companies entered the agreement in 2015 and it was initially scheduled to end mid-2020, with Sanofi committing an initial investment of nearly $2.2 billion. The restructuring means that Sanofi will pay Regeneron $462 million, representing the balance of payments due under the original agreement.
When Sanofi struck the original deal, it paid $640 million upfront and committed to spending $750 million to take programmes up to clinical proof of concept.
The revised agreement allows Regeneron to retain all rights to its other immuno-oncology discovery and development programmes and provides Sanofi increased flexibility to advance its early-stage immuno-oncology pipeline independently.
Also, the companies selected the bispecific antibodies BCMAxCD3 and MUC16xCD3 for ongoing collaboration, with Sanofi gaining the right to opt in to two bispecific programs but otherwise leaves each company free to operate independently.
The companies have also developed and received US Food and Drug Administration approval of Libtayo – a medicine that may treat a type of skin cancer by working with your immune system – for advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC).
