Dive Brief:
- Sanofi will invest 300 million euros, or about $325 million, for a roughly 16% stake in a new joint venture set up to develop radiopharmaceutical drugs for rare cancers.
- The newly created entity will operate under the banner of Orano Med, a radiopharmaceutical developer and Sanofi’s partner in the joint venture. Orano Med, which is a subsidiary of the Orano Group, specializes in versions of the targeted cancer therapy that use a radioisotope known as lead-212.
- Last month, Sanofi licensed an experimental radiopharma drug for neuroendocrine tumors, paying Orano Med and U.S.-based RadioMedix 100 million euros upfront for global commercial rights.
Dive Insight:
Sanofi has trailed some of its big pharma peers in entering the radiopharmaceuticals field, arriving well behind early leaders like Novartis and Bayer, as well as after Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca, all of which acquired biotechnology startups in multibillion-dollar deals over a five-month span from last year to early 2024.
Sanofi has made its entrance by partnering with Orano Med, a French biotech that’s bet on lead-212 as an ideal radioisotope. Radiopharmaceuticals are built around these radioisotopes, which are packaged in such a way that they’re delivered into a target tumor. There, the radioisotope degrades and damages surrounding cancer cells, essentially localizing the radiation’s effects to limit effects on healthy cells.
The licensing deal in September gave Sanofi rights to one such radiopharmaceutical, dubbed AlphaMedix and already in mid-stage clinical testing.
Thursday’s joint venture is meant to built a new developer of these lead-based radiopharmaceuticals. “We are excited to partner with Orano in establishing a French pioneer that unites our respective expertise in biopharma and nuclear technology to drive groundbreaking progress in the fight against cancer,” said Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson, in a statement.
Sanofi’s 300 million euro investment values the new entity at 1.9 billion euros.
