BIOTECH LICENSING AND COLLABORATIONS HIGHLIGHTS
BIOTECH / PHARMA M&A
HIGHLIGHTS
BioNTech
German biotech company focusing on various immune therapies, in particular mRNA therapies
Advised on essentially all major license and development collaborations until 2021 and selected collaborations since then, including inter alia:
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Collaboration agreement with Pfizer Inc. for the co-development and co-commercialization of BioNTech’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty®
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Collaboration agreement with Genentech relating to the co-development and co-commercialization of novel mRNA-based cancer vaccines for the treatment of various types of tumors. The collaboration has the potential to revolutionize cancer treatments by offering personalized cancer vaccines for many tumors
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Development and license agreement with Pfizer Inc. relating to the research and development of mRNA-based flu vaccines (deal value: US$120 million upfront, US$305 million in milestone payments plus double-digit royalties)
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Collaboration agreement with Genmab A/S relating to the co-development and co-commercialization of multiple bispecific antibodies for cancer immunotherapies
Affimed
German biotech company developing transformative innate immunity therapeutic approaches to treat tumors
Advised on various license and development collaborations, including inter alia:
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License and development agreement with Genentech to develop novel NK-cell engager-based immunotherapeutics for mulitple cancer targets (deal value: US$ 96 million upfront, up to US$5 billion in milestone payments, plus royalties)
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License and collaboration agreement with Roivant Sciences to develop and commercialize novel Innate Cell Engagers for multiple cancer targets (deal value: US$60 million upfront, up to US$2 billion in milestone payments, plus royalties)
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Spin-off of a development program for a bi-specific antibody product into Amphevina Therapeutics, Inc., coupled with (i) an option deal for Janssen Biotech to acquire Amphevina and (ii) a financing transaction for Amphevina with MPM Capital
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Various process development and manufacturing agreements with several CDMOs
Bioeq
Swiss biosimilar development company
Advised on the out-licensing of FYB201, Bioeq’s biosimilar version of the blockbuster ophthalmology drug ranibizumab, to Coherus BioSciences for the US market, as well as several related manufacturing agreements for the commercial production of FYB201
Evotec
German biotechnology research and development services company
Advised on several R&D collaboration and license agreements, including:
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Multi-year, long-term tech partnership with Sandoz for the immediate development and subsequent manufacturing of multiple biosimilars (deal value: double-digit-million upfront; US$ 640m depending on further development plus additional undisclosed payments)
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Research collaboration agreement with Celgene (now Bristol Meyers-Squibb) relating to the research and development of disease-modifying therapeutics for a broad range of neurogenerative diseases (deal value: US$45 million upfront, US$250 in milestone payments plus royalties)
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Morphosys
German biotech company focusing on the development of antibody, peptide and protein technologies:
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Development and license agreement relating to worldwide development and commercialization of Morphosys’ antibody candidate MOR-202 for treatment of multiple myeloma (deal value: US$818 million)
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License agreement with I-Mab Biopharma on the out-licensing of Morphosys’ antibody candidate MOR-202 for treatment of multiple myeloma in China (deal value: US$20 million upfront, US$100 in milestone payments, plus double digit royalties)
Univercells
Belgian biotech company focusing on the development of novel biologics production technologies
Advised on several development collaborations, including:
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Collaboration agreement with Synhelix SAS on the development of an automated and integrated DNA production system and the manufacturing and commercialization of such systems
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Collaboration agreement with the RNA company eTheRNA Immunotherapies to develop and commercialize optimized RNA production systems which will manufacture transportable modular RNA production units which can be shipped easily across multiple geographic regions
ViGeneron
German gene therapy company
Advised on several development and license collaborations, including:
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Collaboration and license agreement with Biogen relating to the development of a gene therapy against a target to treat inherited eye disease as well as one additional target
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Research collaboration and option agreements with two international biopharmaceutical companies in relation to the use of ViGeneron’s vector technologies for gene therapy applications
Formycon
German biosimilar development company
Advised on several out-license agreements in relation to its biosimilar candidates, as well as various process development and manufacturing agreements with CDMOs
Glycotope
German biotech company focusing on tumor-specific glycosylation patterns to enable advanced technologies
Advised on several R&D collaboration and license agreements, including:
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License and development collaboration with Octapharma AG relating to the use of Glycotope’s proprietary GlycoExpress® technology for the development of human blood calculation factors (deal value: 80 million Euro)
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Option agreement and related license and development agreement with Daiichi Sankyo in relation to the development of an antibody drug conjugate (ADC) by combining Daiichi Sankyo’s proprietary ADC technology with Glycotope’s investigational tumor-associated TA-MUC1 antibody gatipotuzumab
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License agreement with Linton Pharm Co Ltd in relation to the out-licensing of Glycotope’s follicle stimulating hormone FSH-GEX for development and commercialization in China
CONTACT
Dr. Jochen Dieselhorst LL.M.
senior legal advisor
pharma · biotech
Email
jd@dieselhorst-legal.com
Phone
+49-172-617 92 69
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Boehringer Ingelheim
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Worldwide carve-out of Boehringer Ingelheim’s consumer health business and the swap of the business in exchange for Sanofi’s animal health business (deal value: above US$20 billion), including (i) IP separation and licensing, (ii) various manufacturing agreements and manufacturing transfer for multiple sites, (iii) transitional distribution and distribution switch in many countries around the world and (iv) various other transitional services
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Carve-out of the Brazilian Buscopan® business and sale to Hypera S.A. (deal value: BRL 1.3 billion)
Novartis
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Business swap between Novartis and GSK of (i) Novartis’ vaccine business to GSK (deal value: US$5.3 billion) , (ii) GSK’s oncology business to Novartis (deal value: US$16 billion) and (iii) joint venture for Novartis’ and GSK’s consumer health business, including all carve-out related matters (IP, manufacturing, distribution transfer, etc.)
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Carve-out and sale of Novartis’ animal health business to Eli Lilly for $ 5.4 billion
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Advice in relation to the sale of several manufacturing sites around the world or the possible restructuring of sites into multi-user infrastructure parks, including all related operational agreements (manufacturing agreements, site services agreements, lease agreements, transitional services agreements, etc.)
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Acquisition of GSK’s cephalosporin antibiotics business (including brands Zinnat®, Zinacef® and Fortum®) in more than 100 markets, including all carve-out related matters (IP, manufacturing, distribution, etc.) (deal value: US$500 million)
Merck KGaA
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Worldwide carve-out of Merck’s consumer health care business sale to Procter & Gamble for 3.4 billion Euro, including (i) IP separation and licensing, (ii) various manufacturing agreements and manufacturing transfer for multiple sites, (iii) transitional distribution and distribution switch in many countries around the world and (iv) various other transitional services
Myr GmbH
German biotech company, developer of the product Hepcludex® for the treatment of chronic hepatitis delta virous (HDV):
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Sale of Myr GmbH to Gilead (deal value: 1.45 billion Euro)
Grünenthal
German pharma company focusing on pain treatments:
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Acquisition of Swiss biotech company Mestex AG, owner of the Phase-III-ready development product resinifertoxin for the treatment of pain associated with osteoarthritis in the knee
Advent/Zentiva
European generics business:
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Acquisition of Zentiva, Sanofi's European generics business (deal value: 1.9 billion Euro)
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Acquisition of Alvogen's central and Eastern European business
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Acquisition of KSK Vertriebs GmbH's pharmaceutical business
Cheplapharm
German pharma company focusing on the sale of established products:
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Acquisition of Eastern European and Asian product portfolio against infectious diseases from Astellas