Novartis continues its dealmaking spree with a bet on Dren Bio’s Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis platform to develop bispecific antibodies in oncology.
Novartis on Wednesday entered into a strategic collaboration with privately held Dren Bio to discover and develop bispecific antibodies for cancer indications.
Under the agreement, Novartis will make a $150 million upfront payment including a $25 million equity investment in Dren. The pharma will also put $2.85 billion in potential biobucks on the line in preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones. Dren will also be entitled to tiered royalties on future net sales of any product from the partnership that hit the market.
In return, Novartis will gain access to Dren’s proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis platform, which generates bispecific antibodies that can trigger the controlled activation of myeloid cells only in the presence of their target antigen. This approach can potentially lead to better therapeutic effects and superior safety profiles versus other treatments, according to the biotech’s website.
Dren contends that bispecific antibodies produced with its platform can also strongly deplete pathogenic cells and protein aggregates by targeting a novel receptor found on myeloid cells, which carry out crucial functions of the immune system.
Shiva Malek, global head of oncology for biomedical research at Novartis, in a statement called the Dren partnership a “promising opportunity” for the pharma, allowing it to leverage its “longstanding expertise in immuno-oncology science” to advance novel therapeutic options for cancer patients. Dren’s platform will complement Novartis’ efforts to target cancer through a “wide range of modalities” such as biologics and CAR-T therapies, Malek said.
The partners will work collaboratively through clinical candidate selection, after which Novartis will take charge of the clinical development of the candidates, as well as their manufacturing, regulatory and commercialization activities.
Wednesday’s agreement continues Novartis’ dealmaking spree in recent months. In May 2024, the pharma dropped $1 billion to buy Mariana Oncology and its pipeline of radioligand candidates for cancer. Its lead asset is MC-339, an actinium-based therapy being developed for small cell lung cancer.
Around the same time, Novartis signed a potential $2.7 billion agreement with PeptiDream in an effort to deepen its radioligand capabilities. The partnership will give the pharma access to PeptiDream’s Peptide Discovery Platform System to develop macrocyclic peptides against selected targets.
In April 2024, Novartis put $1 billion on the line, plus a $150 million upfront payment, in a protein degrader deal with Arvinas. The companies will work on an oral therapy for prostate cancer.
