Reverse Mergers in Biopharma

The top deal upfront for December 2021 was the Foghorn – Loxo (Eli Lilly) partnership for Foghorn’s Gene Traffic Control platform. Foghorn will receive $300M up front, a $80M upfront equity investment, and up to $1.3B in potential milestones, plus a US cost/profit split and ex-US royalties.

The top deal upfront for November 2021 was the Owkin – Sanofi artificial intelligence and federated learning platform research partnership to advance Sanofi’s oncology pipeline. Owkin will receive a $180M upfront equity investment, $90M in R&D funding over 3 years, and is eligible for additional undisclosed R&D milestones.

The top deal upfront for October 2021 was the Xencor – Janssen deal for plamotamab and XmAb bispecific antibodies and new XmAb B-cell targeting bispecific antibodies for CD20-expressing hematologic malignancies. Xencor will receive $100M in upfront cash, $25M in an upfront equity investment, and is eligible for up to $1.18B in dev., reg., and sales milestones, plus tiered mid-teens to low-twenties royalties.

The top deal upfront for September 2021 was the REGENXBIO – AbbVie deal for RGX-314 for wet AMD, diabetic retinopathy, and other chronic retinal diseases. REGENXBIO will receive $370M up front and is eligible for up to $1.38B in milestones, plus tiered royalties on net sales of RGX-314 outside the US and 50% of profits in the US.

The top deal upfront for August 2021 was the RemeGen – Seagen deal for HER2-targeted ADC disitamab vedotin for solid tumors. RemeGen will receive $200M in cash up front and is eligible to receive up to $2.4 billion in milestones, plus tiered, high single-digit to mid-teen royalties.

The top biopharma deal upfront for July 2021 was Arvinas and Pfizer’s partnership for PROTAC protein degrader ARV-471 ER+/HER2- breast cancer. Arvinas will receive $650M in cash up front, $350M in an equity investment, and is eligible to receive up to $1.4 billion in milestones, plus a 50% cost and profit split.

The top biopharma deal upfront for June 2021 was iTeos and GSK’s partnership for anti-TIGIT mAb EOS-448. iTeos will receive $625M up front, up to $1.45B in milestones, a U.S. profit split and ex-U.S. tiered royalties.

The top biopharma deal upfront for May 2021 was Agenus and BMS’ partnership for anti-TIGIT mAb AGEN-1777. Agenus will receive $200M up front.

CRISPR Therapeutics and Vertex Pharmaceuticals amended their 2015 deal to develop and commercialize gene editing therapies. This expansion is for Phase I/II CTX001 for severe sickle cell diseases and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia. CRISPR will receive $900M up front, up to $200M in milestones upon the first regulatory approval, and a cost/profit split of 40%.

Debiopharm granted Merck exclusive, worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Xevinapant in Phase III for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Debiopharm will receive EUR188M ($227M) up front and is eligible for up to EUR710M ($856M) in milestones, plus royalties. This was the largest upfront cash and equity for a partnership signed in March 2021.