Sanofi to invest $2.17 bn in research collaboration with Regeneron

 
The companies have also committed to equally fund an additional $650 million (or $325 million per company) for development of REGN2810, a PD-1 inhibitor. In addition, Sanofi will pay to Regeneron a one-time milestone of $375 million in the event that sales of a PD-1 product and any other collaboration antibody sold for use in combination with a PD-1 product exceed, in the aggregate, $2 billion in any consecutive 12-month period.
 
Finally, the two companies have agreed to re-allocate $75 million (over three years) for immuno-oncology antibodies from Sanofi's $160 million annual contribution to their existing antibody collaboration, which otherwise continues as announced in November 2009. Beyond the committed funding, additional funding will be allocated as programs enter post-POC development.

 
The new agreement covers both monoclonal antibodies and new bi-specific antibodies, a variation of standard antibody therapeutics, in which two distinct targets within the body can be bound by the same molecule, usually the cancer cell and an immune cell. Regeneron has developed a novel and flexible manufacturing platform that enables efficient production of bi-specific antibodies that are otherwise similar to natural antibodies.
 
Beyond PD-1, other targets in preclinical development include antibodies to lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG3) and glucocorticoid-induced tumor-necrosis-factor-receptor-related protein (GITR) and a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor. Finally, the collaboration is advancing bi-specific antibodies that target hematologic and solid cancers, either as mono therapies or in combination regimens with other immune modulating treatments.