Zenas BioPharma has secured up to $300 million from Royalty Pharma in return for royalties on sales of lead autoimmune candidate obexelimab.
The cash is intended to help Zenas get its star asset across the phase 3 finish line in IgG4-related disease and into commercialization, the companies announced in a Sept. 2 release.
Royalty is bestowing Zenas with a $75 million upfront payment, with more $75 million payouts available if Zenas’ phase 3 trial succeeds and if obexelimab is approved by the FDA for IgG4-RD and systemic lupus erythematosus.
IgG4-RD top-line data are expected by the end of the year, Zenas said in the release, and obexelimab is currently in a phase 2 trial for SLE that should read out in the middle of next year.
The initial payment should sustain Zenas’ operations through the first quarter of 2027, according to the release.
In return, Royalty will rake in 5.5% of worldwide net sales as well as some other undisclosed payments connected to obexelimab’s commercialization.
“This transaction underscores our conviction in the potential of obexelimab as a franchise molecule and provides us with financial flexibility to rapidly advance our clinical programs and fund the commercial launch of obexelimab if approved for the treatment of IgG4-RD,” Zenas CEO and founder Lonnie Moulder said in the release.
Zenas is also putting obexelimab through its paces in a phase 2 multiple sclerosis trial, with data expected early in the fourth quarter of 2025.
While Zenas has two other pipeline programs, ZB002 and ZB004, obexelimab is the Massachusetts-based biotech’s only asset in publicly disclosed clinical trials. Zenas bought exclusive global rights to the candidate in 2021 from Xencor in a deal worth as much as $480 million.
In September 2023, Zenas snagged $50 million upfront from Bristol Myers Squibb in exchange for the right to develop and commercialize obexelimab in Asia and Australia.