AstraZeneca and Innate Pharma in US$5bn oncology deal

Under the deal, AstraZeneca (AZ) took the full licence to Innate’s NKG2A-targeting T and NK cell checkpoint blocker monalizumab, originally licenced form Novo Nordisk, as agreed in a 2015 deal with Innate Pharma. Currently, monalizumab is in Phase II testing for diverse solid cancers as a monotherapy and in safety testing as combo for AZ’s PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor . Additionally, AZ baged new  option agreements to licence five preclinical antibody candidates out of Innate’ Pharma’s development pipeline. IPH5201, one of which, targeting the membrane bound enzyme ENTPD1 on regulatory T cells, creating an immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment. 

In exchange, Innate Pharma acquired EU commercialisation rights to AZ’s recently approved hairy leukemia antibody-drug conjugate moxetumomab pasudotox-tdfk, which links an CD22 antibody fragment with a domain of Pseudomonas exotoxin-A (PE38), for US$50m. Furthermore, Innate Pharma cashed in US$170m upfront, as well as milestones that might sum up to US$4.925m plus royalties from all programmes that might be approved in the future. 

AZ also bought a 9,8% stake in Innate Pharma.