Sanofi is continuing to splash the cash for autoimmune and immunology assets this spring by penning a new deal with little-known U.S. artificial intelligence research biotech Earendil Labs in a pact that could be worth up to $1.8 billion.
The French pharma is handing over $125 million upfront, with a near-term payment of $50 million to follow, for the exclusive worldwide rights to a pair of bispecific antibodies. HXN-1002 targets α4β7 and TL1A with the aim of treating ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, while HXN-1003 targets TL1A and IL23 in order to treat colitis and skin inflammation.
Should the two drugs progress through the clinic and reach the market, Sanofi will be liable to pay $1.72 billion in development and commercial milestone payments, which includes that $50 million near-term fee, alongside tiered royalties.
“We firmly believe that Sanofi's extensive expertise in the autoimmune disease field will significantly accelerate the development of HXN-1002 and HXN-1003, ultimately bringing these potentially life-changing treatments to patients worldwide as soon as possible,” Earendil Labs President & co-CEO Zhenping Zhu, M.D., Ph.D., said in an April 17 release.
Little is publicly known about Earendil Labs, which touts itself as a “global leader in AI-driven research and development of next-generation biologics therapeutics.” The biotech describes itself as affiliated with Helixon Therapeutics, a company that, like Earendil, claims to harness machine learning for protein drug design.
"Our platform leverages state-of-the-art predictive protein modeling and high-throughput biology, revolutionizing the discovery and development of bispecific antibodies,” Earendil co-CEO Jian Peng, Ph.D., said in the same release. “This collaboration underscores Earendil Labs' capability to generate potential first-in-class or best-in-class product candidates, with the aim of transforming patient care.”
Sanofi has been on a spending spree in recent weeks to bolster its autoimmune and immunology pipeline, returning to Nurix earlier this month for a $480 million autoimmune deal comprising a degrader of a once-undruggable transcription factor. In March, Sanofi penned a $1.6 billion agreement with Dren Bio for a CD20-directed antibody aimed at B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Sanofi—which co-markets the anti-inflammatory blockbuster Dupixent with Regeneron—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.
In the pharma’s full-year earnings call in January 2025, Sanofi’s head of R&D, Houman Ashrafian, Ph.D., reiterated this point, reminding investors that the company is becoming a “premier immunology powerhouse” with the option to combine various molecules it is developing in this space.