Janssen Biotech Signs Option Agreement With Molecular Partners On Use Of DARPins In Immunological Diseases
This article was originally published in The Pink Sheet Daily
Executive Summary
Switzerland's Molecular Partners extends collaboration with Janssen on novel proteins, DARPins, in immune indications.
Molecular Partners AG has concluded its second major deal with a pharmaceutical company in six months, cementing its ongoing three-year-old research program with Johnson & Johnson's business unit, [Janssen Biotech NV], with a strategic research and option agreement involving the treatment of immunological diseases.
"It’s a substantial front-loaded deal, which means that Molecular Partners now has the cash to cover its burn for the next several years," said Molecular Partners' CEO Christian Zahnd. In May, the Zurich, Switzerland-based firm licensed its lead DARPin product, MP0112, a VEGF antagonist about to go into Phase II trials in ophthalmological conditions, to Allergan Inc., the terms of which included a $45 million upfront payment (Also see "Allergan Licenses Molecular Partners' Anti-VEGF Protein For Ophthalmologic Indications" - Pink Sheet, 4 May, 2011.).
The deal announced with Janssen Biotech Dec. 8 is an expansion of the research program that Molecular Partners started with it in 2008 on the use of a novel class of tiny proteins called DARPins – designed ankyrin repeat proteins – in the treatment of severe asthma (Also see "Deals Shaping the Medical Industry (02/08)" - In Vivo, 1 Feb, 2008.).
The financial details of the new deal were being kept under wraps, although in general terms Molecular Partners is to receive upfront fees, license payments and research funding from Janssen Biotech. And during the research phase, Janssen Biotech will have the right to exercise four options to exclusively license DARPin-based products, while Molecular Partners retains the rights to the rest of the assets.
Janssen Biotech will be responsible for clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization of the products on which it exercises its options, with Molecular Partners having an option to co-develop one product on a global basis. Molecular Partners would receive development and sales milestones of up to $200 million on each option, and a tiered, up to double-digit royalty on worldwide net sales.
The timing of when Janssen Biotech will exercise its options is unusual; usually they are taken up after clinical proof-of-concept has been obtained. However, Zahnd pointed out that as teams from Molecular Partners and Janssen Biotech would be collaborating on research to hopefully generate a whole group of assets, it was best to sort out as early as possible what belongs to Molecular Partners and what will be taken forward by Janssen.
DARPins are based on a class of proteins found in the body called ankyrin repeat proteins, which contain specific amino acid sequences, including a repeated sequence, which bind to proteins. Large libraries of different DARPins can be produced by genetic engineering and screened for binding to targets. "They are easy to manufacture in E. coli, they can bind with high specificity and potency, and are highly soluble and stable," Zahnd reported. They can be designed to bind to more than one target and can address targets that have been impossible to get at by other approaches, he added.
Molecular Partners has extensive intellectual property protection on its DARPin research, and Zahnd is not aware of other companies using a similar approach – it plans to build a pipeline of differentiated proprietary products with committed long-term partners and will use some of the new funding to increase its research effort.
Molecular Partners raised CHF46 million ($50 million) in a series B fundraising in 2009, led by Essex Woodlands Health Ventures (Also see "Financings Of The Fortnight: Top-Ups The Latest Trend In Biopharmaceutical Deals" - Pink Sheet, 18 Dec, 2009.)).