Sangamo Therapeutics announced Tuesday it secured an exclusive licensing agreement with Roche’s Genentech, which is paying $50 million in near-term upfront fees and milestone payments to develop novel genomic medicines for neurodegenerative diseases.
Sangamo Therapeutics announced Tuesday that it has inked a deal giving Roche’s Genentech an exclusive license to develop several of its candidates, while providing the cash-strapped biotech a much-needed financial boost.
Under the agreement, Sangamo will receive $50 million in near-term upfront license fees and milestones and is eligible to receive $1.9 billion in development and commercial milestones spread across multiple products and tiered royalties on net sales.
Genentech has been granted an exclusive license to Sangamo’s proprietary zinc finger repressors, directed at the tau gene which is involved in treating Alzheimer’s disease and has an undisclosed neurology target. Sangamo is also licensing its adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid, known as STAC-BBB, which can penetrate the blood-brain barrier and target diseases in the central nervous system. The specific target for this capsid has not been disclosed.
The terms of the agreement have Sangamo responsible for completing the tech transfer and undertaking some preclinical activities. Genentech will oversee all clinical development of these assets as well as conduct regulatory interactions, manufacturing and global commercialization.
Sangamo’s stock skyrocketed Tuesday, up more than 40% in morning trading.
“We strongly believe in the power of our zinc finger technology to regulate the expression of key genes involved in disease. The recent discovery of our industry-leading intravenously delivered AAV capsid, STAC-BBB, has the potential to address longstanding challenges in delivering therapeutics to the central nervous system,” Sangamo CEO Sandy Macrae said in a statement.
Sangamo noted that it will continue to have business development discussions with other partners for its assets, including its Fabry disease candidate, isaralaggene civaparvovec, which has already received the FDA’s Fast Track designation and is an asset that some experts are bullish on generating cash for the company.
The Genentech deal comes at a critical time for Sangamo as the company was running out of cash. A Seeking Alpha report last month noted that the company was potentially on the verge of bankruptcy, pointing to Sangamo’s first-quarter 2024 earnings which showed that the biotech had only enough cash to last into the third quarter of this year.
Prior to Tuesday’s Genentech licensing agreement, Sangamo had not secured a major deal since 2020 when it received $350 million upfront to develop assets for neurological diseases with Biogen. The deal was discontinued last year.
However, there have been rays of hope for Sangamo. Late last month, the Pfizer-partnered hemophilia A gene therapy giroctocogene fitelparvovec showed positive effects in Phase III, which if approved, would provide access to royalties and a $220 million milestone payout.
