The acquisition will bring gene therapy company Decibel Therapeutics into Regeneron’s fold after a six-year partnership, targeting different forms of congenital and monogenic hearing loss.
Pictured: Regeneron logo on a light brown building/Shutterstock, Lev Radin
New York-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals announced Wednesday the biotech is buying long-time partner Decibel Therapeutics in a $109 million acquisition meant to bolster its gene therapy and hearing loss programs.
The move brings Decibel’s clinical-stage focus on gene therapy-based treatments fully under the purview of Regeneron after six years of collaboration investigating treatments for congenital hearing loss.
Under the terms of the deal, Regeneron is paying $4 a share up front, with an additional $3.50 per share up for grabs should certain milestones for Decibel’s lead investigational candidate, DB-OTO, be met. That translates into roughly $109 million in upfront cash, with an additional $104 million potentially on the table.
The two companies started collaborating in 2017, with Regeneron providing “broad access to its proprietary suite of technologies to support Decibel’s goal of discovering important new medicines for hearing,” according to the announcement. The deal also included financial support, while promising Regeneron royalties on any products developed. Decibel retained development and commercialization rights.
The companies agreed to extend that collaboration in 2021, pushing out the end date to November 2023, with Regeneron paying a $10 million extension fee in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The partnership focused on “three gene therapy programs targeting different forms of congenital, monogenic hearing loss,” Regeneron said in its acquisition announcement. The lead investigational therapy, DB-OTO, is currently being evaluated in the Phase I/II CHORD clinical trial, investigating the efficacy of the adeno-associated virus (AAV) therapy in children and infants with hearing loss caused by biallelic otoferlin mutations. These mutations cause the body to fail to produce the protein otoferlin. DB-OTO is intended to use a virus to replace the defective gene.
“We believe that Decibel’s assets and specialized team will further strengthen our genetic medicines portfolio, enabling Regeneron to accelerate the development of innovative genetic therapies and a rich pipeline of hearing loss treatments,” George Yancopoulos, Regeneron’s president and chief scientific officer, said in a statement.
The acquisition comes at a critical time for Decibel. The company went public in 2021 with a $127 million stock offering. However, by May 2023, the company had lost 80% of its stock value and only had enough cash to make it to mid-2024.
It also follows expansion efforts by Regeneron in gene therapies targeting vision loss. The company signed a collaboration and option agreement with German gene therapy biotech ViGeneron GmbH to develop treatments for inherited retinal disease. The company has also been expanding its efforts in other areas, including an acquisition of Checkmate Pharmaceuticals, a cancer drug development company.
However, Regeneron certainly isn’t the only biotech investigating inherited otoferlin deficiency. Eli Lilly dropped $487 million acquiring Akous to get its hands on the biotech’s lead candidate. In Europe, French company Sensorion recently approached European regulators, asking permission to launch a clinical trial.
Connor Lynch is a freelance writer based in Ottawa, Canada. Reach him at lynchjourno@gmail.com.
