Sanofi cools on Innate again

A month after deprioritising one Innate Pharma-originated NK-cell engager in oncology, Sanofi has handed back another. On Wednesday Innate disclosed the return of IPH6101, which hits CD123, a target linked with toxicity. It’s unclear if this played into Sanofi’s decision, but phase 1 dose-escalation data in 59 relapsed/refractory AML patients, presented at EHA last year, found a 59% rate of serious treatment-emergent adverse events, with 7% discontinuing IPH6101, and one dose-limiting toxicity of grade 3 cytokine release syndrome. There was a 33% response rate among 15 patients receiving the most effective dose, 1mg/kg, and dose expansion began in April 2024. Sanofi will soften the blow with a “potential” investment in up to €15m of new Innate shares; the exact amount will depend on market conditions. Sanofi, which first teamed up with Innate in 2016, still has an interest in the anti-BCMA IPH6401 (but only in autoimmune conditions following deprioritisation in multiple myeloma), and in the B7-H3-targeting IPH62. The big pharma also has an option over one further Innate NK engager. However, Sanofi returned rights to another project, IPH67, last October, and the latest news suggests that its interest in this modality has cooled further.

Innate’s NK cell engagers

Source: OncologyPipeline & company release.