Sanofi and IGM Biosciences have signed a deal potentially worth over $6bn to create, develop, manufacture and commercialise IgM antibody agonists for three oncology targets and three immunology and inflammation targets.
Engineered IgM antibodies are a new group of potential therapeutics, combining the multivalency of IgM antibodies possessing ten binding sites, compared to typical IgG antibodies with only two target binding sites.
IGM is set to receive an upfront payment of $150m and potentially over $6bn in aggregate
development, regulatory and commercial milestones. Sanofi has also expressed an interest in buying up to $100m of IGM non-voting common stock.
IGM will have lead responsibility for R&D activities for each oncology target collaboration programme and will assume related costs. For each oncology target, the companies will split the profits equally in certain major markets, while IGM will be eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales worldwide.
John Reed, global head of research and development at Sanofi, said: “The IGM Biosciences technology platform offers an exciting approach to developing high-avidity IgM antibodies that can efficiently bind and stimulate the activity of cell surface receptors. This unique platform has the potential to overcome historical limitations of conventional IgG antibodies when seeking agonists of some classes of receptors.”
Fred Schwarzer, chief executive officer of IGM Biosciences, said: “Sanofi is a global leader in the development and commercialisation of innovative therapies, and we welcome the addition of their extensive expertise and resources in expanding and accelerating the development of our IgM antibody platform across multiple areas of high unmet need.
“This partnership builds on an existing research collaboration with Sanofi and is a key step towards
our goal of unlocking the full breadth of potential for this important new class of therapeutics. We are pleased to share this vision with Sanofi and look forward to working together on these six potentially first- and best-in-class programmes.”