Dren Bio Announces Strategic Collaboration with Novartis to Develop Novel Targeted Myeloid Engagers for Cancer
July 24 2024 - 8:02AM
Business Wire
– Collaboration combines Dren’s targeted cell
depletion platform with Novartis research, development and
commercial expertise to advance innovative therapies for cancer
–
– Dren Bio to receive total upfront
consideration of $150 million and is eligible to receive milestone
payments and tiered royalties –
Dren Bio, Inc. (“Dren Bio” or the “Company”), a privately held,
clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing antibody
therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune, and other serious diseases,
today announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration
with Novartis Pharma AG, a subsidiary of Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS).
The collaboration will focus on the discovery and development of
therapeutic bispecific antibodies for cancer using Dren Bio’s
proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform.
“Our agreement with Dren Bio is a promising opportunity to
discover novel bispecific antibody therapies for cancer, building
on our longstanding expertise in immuno-oncology science at
Novartis,” said Shiva Malek, Ph.D., Global Head of Oncology for
Biomedical Research at Novartis. “We’re excited to collaborate to
bring forward new therapeutic options for patients living with
cancer, complementing our strategic efforts across a wide range of
modalities, including targeted therapies, biologics, radioligand
therapies and CAR-Ts.”
“We are thrilled to establish this new collaboration with
Novartis, a global leader in oncology,” said Nenad Tomasevic,
Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dren Bio. “Combining the proven
capabilities of Novartis in oncology drug development with Dren
Bio’s novel platform could enable the advancement of important new
therapies for patients.”
Amit Mehta, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business
Officer of Dren Bio, added, “Dren Bio’s Targeted Myeloid Engager
and Phagocytosis Platform is designed to deplete various
disease-causing agents and has led to a rich and diverse pipeline.
This collaboration will benefit from Novartis’ impressive track
record of developing novel medicines and help further expand the
reach of our platform.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Dren Bio will receive a total
upfront consideration of $150 million from Novartis, which includes
a $25 million equity investment in the Company. Dren Bio is also
eligible to receive up to $2.85 billion in additional cash payments
upon achieving certain preclinical, clinical, regulatory, and
commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties on future net
sales of any commercialized products resulting from the
collaboration. Dren Bio and Novartis will collaborate to advance
selected targeted myeloid engager programs in oncology through
clinical candidate selection, at which point Novartis will assume
full responsibility for all remaining development, manufacturing,
regulatory, and commercialization activities.
The agreement is subject to customary closing conditions
including regulatory clearance.
About Dren Bio
Dren Bio is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company pioneering the discovery and development of novel
first-in-class antibody therapeutics for the treatment of cancer,
autoimmune, and other serious diseases. The Company’s lead product
candidate, DR-01, is a first-in-class antibody therapeutic capable
of selectively depleting terminally differentiated cytotoxic cells
such as autoreactive CD8 T cells, which are known to play a
pathogenic role in various cancer and autoimmune diseases. DR-01 is
currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 study in patients with
cytotoxic lymphomas and is expanding into various autoimmune
indications. In addition to DR-01, Dren Bio’s Targeted Myeloid
Engager and Phagocytosis Platform is a bispecific antibody-based
technology that induces potent depletion of pathogenic cells,
protein aggregates, and other disease-causing agents by engaging a
novel phagocytic receptor that is selectively expressed on myeloid
cells. Bispecific antibodies generated from the platform are
specifically engineered to enable controlled myeloid cell
activation only in the presence of the target antigen, which may
result in greater therapeutic indexes and offer superior safety
profiles compared to other therapeutic modalities such as T-cell
engagers and Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs). The Company’s lead
platform program, DR-0201, is capable of engaging both
tissue-resident and trafficking myeloid cells to induce deep B cell
depletion via targeted phagocytosis. DR-0201 has demonstrated a
favorable preclinical safety profile in multiple non-human primate
studies with no cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity observed
and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 study in B-NHL
patients. Collectively, Dren Bio’s two distinct clinical programs
represent a unique opportunity to potentially achieve an immune
reset in multiple autoimmune diseases, by inducing deep depletion
of pathogenic B cells using DR-0201 and by selectively depleting
autoreactive T cells using DR-01. The Company’s preclinical
pipeline includes multiple bispecific antibodies generated from its
platform focused on oncology, immunology, and neurology. For more
information about Dren Bio and its current development pipeline,
please visit the Company’s website at www.drenbio.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240724830878/en/
Company Contact: Jeff Macfarland EVP, Finance
ir@drenbio.com