Sanofi is handing back a phase 2-stage natural killer (NK) cell engager and canceling another cancer trial as the Big Pharma refocuses its relationship with Innate Pharma from oncology to autoimmune indications.
Sanofi had been assessing a CD123-targeting drug, known as SAR443579 or IPH6101, in a phase 1/2 study for relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia. The Big Pharma unveiled data last year that showed complete responses among five out of 15 patients who received a dose of 1 mg/kg, with three patients demonstrating a “durable” complete responses of more than 10 months.
SAR’579 has been in a phase 2 dose-expansion portion of the study for the past year, but Sanofi said this morning that it is handing the drug back to Innate. The two companies will “discuss a transition plan with regard to ongoing studies,” Sanofi explained in an April 23 release.
SAR’579 was created with Innate’s NK cell engager platform, dubbed ANKET, and the biopharma will continue to collaborate with the French Big Pharma on a number of other drugs from this source. One of them is a BCMA-targeting NK cell engager called IPH6401, also known as SAR’514.
When they signed their initial collaboration back in 2016, the plan was for Sanofi to investigate SAR’514 in multiple myeloma. But the company said Wednesday morning that it will now terminate a phase 1/2 study in this cancer indication and instead refocus the asset toward autoimmune disease.
“We acknowledge Sanofi’s portfolio prioritization, and we are encouraged to see our ANKET platform being pursued in autoimmune indications,” Innate’s CEO Jonathan Dickinson said. “We will continue to evaluate, plan and execute next steps for our proprietary ANKET programs in oncology and beyond.”
Sanofi also suggested that as part of the amendments to the 2016 agreement, the pharma has agreed to invest about 15 million euros ($17.1 million) in new shares of Innate. However, the exact size of the equity investment “will be determined on the basis of the ongoing market conditions, if they are satisfactory,” the drugmaker said.
“We are very pleased that Sanofi has chosen to further strengthen our relationship through a potential strategic equity investment in the company,” Dickinson added in the same release. “This would further validate the innovation and scientific progress at Innate Pharma delivered by our research and development.”
The two French companies also have a separate collaboration signed in 2022 to use the ANKET platform to target the glycoprotein B7-H3, which is overexpressed on various solid tumors. This deal is unaffected by today’s news, according to Sanofi.
In all, Innate could still receive more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in R&D and commercial milestones from Sanofi should the various bets pay off.
Sanofi has been undergoing a major pipeline shake-up in an effort to become “an immunoscience powerhouse," according to an internal letter obtained by Fierce Biotech last year.
The Big Pharma has been on a spending spree to bolster its autoimmune and immunology pipeline, picking up bispecific antibodies for colitis and Crohn’s disease from Earendil Labs last week, while returning to Nurix earlier this month for a $480 million autoimmune deal comprising a degrader of a once-undruggable transcription factor.