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BioNTech puts a ring on Biotheus

A year after paying $55m to license Biotheus’s PD-L1/VEGF, BioNTech is going all in for $800m.

PD-(L)1 x VEGF bispecifics are one of the hottest areas of oncology, and BioNTech clearly felt the need to make its union with Biotheus permanent: the company, which licensed BNT327 for $55m last November, has now bought its Chinese partner in full for $800m up front.

The focus is clearly on BNT327, with BioNTech promising “multiple” registrational trials; it has already disclosed phase 3 plans in small and non-small cell lung cancer, and triple-negative breast cancer. However, Biotheus has a large pipeline beyond BNT327, which will add to BioNTech’s already extensive oncology efforts.

Whether BioNTech is interested in any of these projects is currently unclear. A spokesperson for the company told ApexOnco that BNT327 was the key asset, but that Biotheus’s pipeline and bispecific know-how will “further strengthen” its capabilities, without giving specific details.

It’s notable that Biotheus’s pipeline includes an anti-PD-L1 x 4-1BB bispecific antibody, PM1003; BioNTech recently ended a deal with Genmab over its similarly acting contender, acasunlimab. Whether the German group plans to switch focus to PM1003, or whether it just doesn’t see a future in this approach, is a question that could be answered in the coming months.

 

Biotheus’s clinical-stage pipeline

ProjectDescriptionStatusNote
BNT327 (PM8002)PD-L1 x VEGF MAbPh3 China trials ongoing; BioNTech planning global ph3s in NSCLC, SCLC & TNBC in 2024/2025; combo with BNT325 (anti-TROP2 ADC) began Jun 2024Closest rival is ivonescimab, licensed by Summit from Akeso for $500m in Dec 2022
PM1080EGFR x cMET MAbPh2/3 China trial in 1st-line EGFRm NSCLCPartnered with Hansoh in Greater China
PM1009TIGIT x PVRIG MAbPh1/2 China trial in liver cancerOthers developing TIGIT x PVRIG projects include Jiangsu Simcere & Jiangsu Hengrui
PM1022PD-L1 x TIGIT MAbPh1/2 China trial in solid tumoursJury still out on TIGIT
PM1032Claudin18.2 x 4-1BB MAbPh1/2 China trial in solid tumoursAstellas’s CLDN18.2 MAb Vyloy approved, but efficacy questionable
PM8001PD-L1 x TGFβ MAbPh1 Australia trial in solid tumoursTGFβ has broadly disappointed
PM1003PD-L1 x 4-1BB MAbPh1 China trial in solid tumoursBioNTech ended deal on Genmab’s similarly acting acasunlimab in Aug 2024
PM1015CD73 MAbPh1 China trial in solid tumoursSanofi licensed I-Mab’s similarly acting ulelimumab in Sep 2024

Source: OncologyPipeline & company website.

 

BioNTech might also end up competing against Genmab in the EGFR x cMET arena, where Biotheus has been developing a bispecific antibody, PM1080. Genmab had a hand in the development of Johnson & Johnson’s Rybrevant, and is now taking forward a EGFR x cMET ADC, PRO1286, gained via the purchase of ProfoundBio.

Partnerships and combos

BioNTech, which is still collaborating with Genmab on several more assets, also has various other partnerships in play, with the likes of Medilink, DualityBio and OncoC4. Still, these cover ADCs and straight monoclonal antibodies, meaning they can happily coexist with the new Biotheus bispecific assets.

Indeed, BioNTech is already testing BNT327 alongside BNT325, a TROP2-targeting ADC licensed from DualityBio. More combos are in the works, and while the spokesperson declined to give further details, she added: “One of our objectives is to replace chemo with ADCs in the future.”

Wednesday’s deal is worth more up front than the $500m Summit spent on licensing Akeso’s ivonescimab, the leading PD-(L)1 x VEGF contender, but is in line with other recent tie-ups between Chinese and western companies: AstraZeneca shelled out $1bn to buy Gracell, while Bristol Myers Squibb gave SystImmune $800m for its EGFR and HER3-targeting ADC izalontamab brengitecan.

BNT327 is the obvious highlight in BioNTech’s largely underwhelming oncology pipeline, so the Biotheus buyout makes sense. However, one question is why BioNTech chose to pull the trigger now, when it already had ex-China rights to BNT327. Given the current excitement over PD-(L)1 VEGFs, perhaps another suitor was interested.

Or perhaps BioNTech decided that, rather than paying over $1bn in milestones for just BNT327, as per the original deal, it would get all that Biotheus had to offer for a similar sum. One question now is what BioNTech is planning for the rest of that pipeline.