Sanofi, Evotec and Apeiron Biologics have signed a research collaboration and licence agreement to discover and develop first-in-class, small molecule-based, immuno-oncology therapies to treat solid and haematological cancers.
The collaboration is based on the initial successful outcome of a phenotypic high-throughput screen of potential compounds for development that was commissioned by Apeiron and carried out by Evotec.
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The deal will allow Sanofi to screen its own compound libraries to identify new small molecule candidates for development.
Sanofi will also take the responsibility for all development, regulatory, commercial and manufacturing activities of the products resulting from the collaboration.
Sanofi will provide funding for Evotec and Apeiron for two years to carry out the research programme that will include potential early success milestone payments.
Upon continuation, as decided by Sanofi, Evotec is eligible to secure further development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments worth roughly €200m, and royalties on net sales.
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By GlobalDataIn a separate deal, Sanofi has established strategic research collaboration with Evotec to develop beta cell-modulating diabetes treatments to reduce or eliminate the need for insulin injection.
The new research collaboration will involve the development of a beta cell replacement therapy based on functional human beta cells derived from human stem cells.
It will also use human beta cells for high-throughput drug screening to identify beta cell active small molecules or biologics.
Under the deal, Evotec is eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments that could be around €300m and royalties on net sales.
Image: Micrograph of a plasmacytoma, a haematological malignancy. Photo: courtesy of Nephron via Wikipedia.
