Dive Brief:
- Pfizer has signed an option and license deal with cancer biopharma company OncoImmune, giving the big pharma access to a preclinical anti-CTLA4 monoclonal antibody. Upfront and milestone payments in agreement could add up to as much as $250 million
- Pfizer will evaluate ONC-392 and other anti-CTLA4 monoclonal antibodies until an undisclosed time, and then decide whether to take out an exclusive license.
- If a license agreement is struck, Pfizer will take over development and commercialization rights, paying milestones as well as tiered mid-single to low-double digit royalties.
Dive Insight:
Through its deal with OncoImmune, Pfizer adds to its growing immuno-oncology pipeline and cancer franchise.
Cancer immunotherapies are the candidates du jour at the moment, if deals over the last few months are anything to go by.
In recent months, Amgen paid Advaxis $40 million upfront with a $25 million equity investment for preclinical ADXS-NEO, in a deal which could be worth up to $540 million. Celgene’s deal with Jounce Therapeutics in July, worth a potential $2.3 billion, gives Celgene a handful of preclinical candidates in immuno-oncology.
Pfizer has been awfully busy shopping of late, perhaps making up for lost time after failed mega-mergers with Allergan and AstraZeneca. The crown jewel so far is its recent $14 billion acquisition of Medivation, which markets the prostate cancer drug Xtandi in the U.S.
But this year Pfizer has also picked up the gene therapy company Bamboo Therapeutics, added a potential blockbuster eczema treatment in a deal for Anacor, and bought out AstraZeneca's anti-infective portfolio.