Sanofi’s $125M Israeli Drug Buy Could Be A Three-Pronged Cancer Buster

By Shoshanna Solomon, The Times of Israel January 31, 2021 < 1 minute

Researchers are working on the devlopment of nano-vaccines for cancer therapy. Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

This article was first published by The Times of Israel and is re-posted with permission.

The anti-cancer drug developed by Biond Biologics, which the Israeli startup will now try on humans in clinical trials with France-based multinational Sanofi, takes a multipronged approach to fighting tumors, activating three kind of cells in the immune system at the same time.

Paris-based multinational pharma firm Sanofi signed a licensing agreement earlier this month for Biond’s flagship anti-tumor drug BND-22, a cancer immunotherapy medication.

Under the terms of the agreement, Biond will receive an upfront payment of $125 million in cash and up to $1 billion in potential development, regulatory and sales milestones, as well as tiered double-digit royalty payments, the Israeli firm said in a statement. Biond will lead the first-in-human Phase 1a clinical trial of the drug, evaluating its safety and tolerability. Afterwards, Sanofi will take on development responsibilities and commercialization of the drug, Biond said.

To read the full article, click here.