Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has opted in to an exclusive global licence for Evotec’s neurodegenerative drug EVT8683.

The deal is the first programme to emerge from the two companies’ collaboration in neurodegeneration, which was initiated in 2016. Evotec originally signed the collaboration deal with Celgene, which was subsequently acquired by BMS in 2019.

EVT8683 is a small molecule targeting a key cellular stress response which has the potential to deliver disease-modifying treatments for several neurodegenerative diseases. The EVT8683 programme originates from a phenotypic screen conducted by Evotec using its iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell) drug discovery platform.

Under the terms of the deal, Evotec has received an option payment of $20 m and is eligible to earn up to $250m in milestone payments.

Cord Dohrmann, chief scientific officer of Evotec, commented: “We are very excited to bring a first drug candidate which originated from Evotec’s iPSC discovery platform into the clinic.

EVT8683 is targeting a highly promising mechanism of the cellular stress response and has already demonstrated a very compelling preclinical efficacy and safety profile.” 

Moderna has announced a collaboration with AbCellera to develop therapeutics antibodies for use across multiple, undisclosed indications.

The multi-year, multi-target research collaboration will use AbCellera’s AI-powered antibody discovery platform to search and analyse natural immune responses to identify therapeutic antibodies against up to six targets, selected by Moderna.

AbCellera’s platform will be combined with Moderna’s mRNA technology platform in a bid to accelerate the development of mRNA-encoded antibody therapeutics.
Under the terms of the agreement, Moderna will retain rights to develop and commercialise antibodies developed as part of the collaboration.

In return, AbCellera will receive research payments and is also eligible to receive downstream clinical and commercial milestone payments as well as royalties on net sales of products from Moderna.

French pharma company Sanofi has announced its intention to acquire Kadmon Holdings in a bid to add to its transplant portfolio and grow its general medicines core assets.

Under the terms of the deal, Sanofi will acquire Kadmon for $9.50 per share in cash, representing a total equity value of around $1.9bn.

After closing the deal, Sanofi will immediately gain access to Kadmon’s chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) treatment Rezurock (belumosudil), which is US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for patients aged 12 years and older who have failed at least two prior lines of systemic therapy.

It will join Sanofi’s other transplant medicines, consisting mainly of Thymoglobulin (anti-thymocyte globulin) and Mozobil (plerixafor).

Rezurock is the first and only small molecule inhibitor designed to inhibit the Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase 2 (ROCK2) signalling pathway that modulates inflammatory response and fibrotic processes.

Sanofi said in a statement that it plans to work with regulatory authorities across ‘different geographies’ to bring Rezurock to patients with cGVHD.

Elsewhere in its pipeline, Kadmon is developing drug candidates for the treatment of immune and fibrotic diseases as well as immuno-oncology therapies.