Days ahead of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Germany-based BioNTech extended its three-year-old collaboration with Sanofi as the companies look to co-develop the first cancer immunotherapy candidate for solid tumors.
Days ahead of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Germany-based BioNTech extended its three-year-old collaboration with Sanofi as the companies look to co-develop the first cancer immunotherapy candidate for solid tumors.
As part of the deal, the French pharma giant will invest about $91.5 million in equity in BioNTech, a privately-held company. The investment follows BioNTech’s 2018 decision to exercise one of the option rights under the 2015 agreement to co-develop and co-commercialize the immuno-oncology candidate. The two companies will work to develop an investigational therapy that includes an mRNA mixture encoding immunomodulatory cytokines that are injected directly into the tumor. Local administration of immunotherapies to the tumor microenvironment provides the opportunity to stimulate innate and adaptive immune responses against tumors, while potentially avoiding toxicities related to systemic administration of immuno-modulatory therapeutics.
BioNTech Chief Operating Officer Sean Marett told BioSpace that the Sanofi deal is good for both companies as it furthers the relationship between the two as they look for more efficacious treatments in cancer.
The program being jointly developed between the companies has moved from concept to the clinic in a span of only three years. The belief is that targeted mRNA therapies may have the potential to be effective for cancer patients. BioNTech’s research focus for oncology is one that requires distinct approaches. Marett said each tumor is different and it requires the development of individualized products for each patient. With cancerous tumors, Marett noted that there can be a number of mutations at the molecular levels. Those mutations make great targets because they’re new cells and “haven’t been through the check-in process of the immune system.”
If you can boost the immune system against them, you can fight them,” said of the mutations.
The partnership is one of many that BioNTech has been able to forge since its founding in 2008. In addition to Sanofi, the company also has partnerships with Genentech, Pfizer, Genmab, Eli Lilly, Genevant and Bayer Animal Health. In November 2018, the company forged an agreement worth up to $425 million with Pfizer to develop mRNA-based flu vaccines. Then, in November, the company inked a deal with the University of Pennsylvania to develop novel nucleoside-modified mRNA vaccine candidates for the prevention and treatment of various infectious diseases. Earlier this summer, the company forged its agreement with Genevant to develop five therapeutics to treat rare diseases with high unmet medical need using its mRNA drug discovery platform. The companies will combine Genevant’s lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology and BioNTech’s mRNA platform to develop the best-in-class therapeutics
Marett said BioNTech appreciates the idea of co-development deals, because both parties are at the table determining the course of an asset. As the company looks to bring immune-oncology products to market, particularly in places like the United States, he said it helps to have partners who have a footprint in the area, like Sanofi and Genentech.
BioNTech has developed four broad technology platforms, including an mRNA-based platform that is focused on oncology and infectious diseases, as well as a cell and gene therapy platform. The company also has a protein therapeutics platform and a small molecule development platform. Currently, BioNTech has five programs in the clinic, with more expected over the course of this year. Additionally, the company anticipates a rapid expansion of its pre-clinical pipeline.
In addition to its mRNA programs, BioNTech is also working on developing a CAR-T treatment for solid tumors. So far, the only CAR-T treatments that have been approved by the FDA are for blood cancers. However, Marett said the company believes they have one program that might be a game-changer when it comes to using CAR-Ts against solid tumors.
“If all goes well, we plan on being in the clinic this year,” he said of that particular program.
Marett said the company intends to take the momentum it has seen with its multiple co-development deals into J.P. Morgan as a potential means to gain additional funding to support its programs. He added that it will also be a good chance for BioNTech to meet with its co-development partners and “look at the state of the nation.”
