Following the disappointment of a multiple sclerosis (MS) trial readout this week, Sanofi has signed a pair of deals in the autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease space in a bid to bolster its future pipeline.
On 15 December, Sanofi expanded its collaboration with Dren Bio in a deal worth up to around $1.7bn. Later that day, the French drugmaker tied an agreement worth up to $1.04bn with South Korea-based ADEL for a promising Alzheimer’s disease candidate.
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Shares in Sanofi rose around 2% to €82.27 ($96.87) at market open on 16 December, compared to a market close of €80.60 on 15 December. The company has a market cap of €99bn at time of writing.
Dren Bio’s autoimmune expansion
Sanofi began working with Dren Bio in March 2025, having inked the rights to the biotech’s deep B-cell depletion programme DR-0201 in a deal valued up to $1.9bn. The candidate is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase I clinical study (NCT06647069) for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as Sjogren’s syndrome and cutaneous lupus.
Under the latest agreement’s terms, Dren Bio will receive an upfront payment of $100m and is eligible to receive up to $1.7bn in milestone payments. The expanded alliance builds on this initial programme, with the two companies now teaming up to discover and develop new candidates using the B-cell depletion platform. B-cell depletion therapy is a targeted treatment to reduce the number of B cells in the immune system to alleviate symptoms and slow disease progression.
Following development candidate selection, Sanofi will take over development, manufacturing, and regulatory duties. While the big pharma company will also be in charge of commercialising the therapy, Dren Bio has the option to enter into a 50/50 share of US profits or losses.
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By GlobalDataSanofi’s global therapeutic head of immunology and oncology development, Alyssa Johnsen, said: “Our newly expanded strategic alliance with Dren Bio reflects Sanofi’s deep commitment to developing best-in-class therapies with the potential to achieve remission in patients with immune-mediated diseases.”
ADEL’s Alzheimer’s disease antibody license
Partaking in the growing number of companies to ink neuroscience-based deals this year, Sanofi has agreed a deal worth up to $1.04bn for the worldwide rights to ADEL’s ADEL-Y01 – an antibody for Alzheimer’s disease. The deal also includes development and commercialisation rights to ADEL-Y01’s unnamed “related backup compounds”.
ADEL-Y01 targets tau protein acetylated at Lysine-280 (acK280). Unlike therapies targeting total tau, ADEL-Y01 specifically inhibits the aggregation and propagation of toxic tau species. The drug has been designed to preserve the function of normal microtubule-associated tau. ADEL-Y01 is currently being investigated in a global Phase I clinical trial (NCT06247345).
ADEL’s CEO Seung-Yong Yoon said: “By combining our scientific expertise with the proven development and commercialisation capabilities of Sanofi, we hope to accelerate the delivery of this disease-modifying therapy to people living with Alzheimer’s around the world.”
Sanofi’s week got off to a difficult start after tolebrutinib, its experimental MS drug, failed to meet its primary endpoint in a Phase III trial in a sub-type of the neurological disease. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also pushed back the review for the drug in non-relapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (nrSPMS) after requesting an expanded access protocol.
