Monday was a busy day for AstraZeneca, which also paid up to $1 billion to acquire Belgian biotech EsoBiotec and its cell therapy pipeline and technology.
AstraZeneca capped off a hectic Monday with a deal potentially totaling $1.35 billion with South Korean biotech Alteogen to advance novel subcutaneous therapies for cancer.
The pact, reported by several news outlets, involves two separate contracts, according to Fierce Pharma, citing a Google-translated filing from Alteogen. The first agreement will see AstraZeneca make a $25 million upfront payment and commit up to $725 million in potential milestones, while AstraZeneca will front $20 million in the second deal, alongside a potential $580 million in future payments.
BioSpace has reached out to both Alteogen and AstraZeneca for independent confirmation of these details and to obtain more information on the overall partnership.
At the center of Monday’s deal is Alteogen’s proprietary recombinant hyaluronidase enzyme ALT-B4, which enables the subcutaneous administration of large volumes of drugs that would otherwise need to be delivered intravenously. Through the Alteogen deal, AstraZeneca bought worldwide rights over ALT-B4, which it plans to use to develop subcutaneous formulations of “several assets in our portfolio,” CMO Cristian Massacesi said in a prepared statement on Monday.
The pharma has yet to specify which these assets are, with Massacesi only noting that this thrust is part of the pharma’s aim to develop new cancer treatment options “that can transform the way cancer care is delivered.”
The partnership with AstraZeneca is similar to deals Alteogen has struck with other pharmas to incorporate hyaluronidase into their drugs. The company has collaborations with Merck to work on Keytruda formulations, and with Daichii Sankyo to incorporate ALT-B4 into Enhertu, the cancer drug Daichii developed and co-commercialized with AstraZeneca.
Also on Monday, AstraZeneca inked a potential $1 billion agreement to buy Belgian biotech EsoBiotec, gaining access to its cell therapy pipeline and technology. The buyout, once it clears customary conditions and closes in the second quarter of 2025, will give the pharma access to the ENaBL platform, which allows for in vivo cell engineering, reprogramming patients’ cells inside their bodies.
As in the case of Alteogen, AstraZeneca will leverage the EsoBiotec deal for a stronger position in cancer, while also boosting its capabilities in autoimmune and other immune-mediated conditions.
AstraZeneca on Monday also unveiled high-level results from the Phase III CALYPSO trial of its parathyroid hormone receptor 1 agonist eneboparatide, being developed for chronic hypoparathyroidism. At 24 weeks, the pharma reported that the candidate met the study’s primary composite endpoint of normalization of albumin-adjusted serum calcium concentrations and independence from active vitamin D and oral calcium therapy. AstraZeneca did not provide more specific data in its news release.
