Sanofi snaps up mRNA partner for US$3.2bn

Sanofi got ahead of the rumours on Tuesday, announcing it had agreed to acquire US biotech Translate Bio for US$38 per share. Translate Bio brings its early-stage pipeline in cystic fibrosis and other rare pulmonary diseases into the deal. In addition, the Lexington-based biotech has ongoing work in diseases that affect the liver. Translate Bio’s MRT platform may be applied to various classes of treatments, such as therapeutic antibodies or vaccines in areas such as oncology.

The move is part of Sanofi’s endeavor to accelerate the application of messenger RNA to develop therapeutics and vaccine. The big pharma’s recent acquisition of Tidal Therapeutics expanded the company’s mRNA research capabilities in both immuno-oncology and inflammatory diseases. Now, Sanofi is accelerating its efforts to develop transformative medicines using mRNA technology with the Translate Bio takeover.

The two companies are already partners: in 2018, they entered into a collaboration to develop mRNA vaccines which was further expanded in 2020 to broadly address current and future infectious diseases. The partnership comprises two ongoing mRNA vaccine clinical trials: the COVID-19 vaccine Phase 1/2 study with results expected in Q3 2021 and the mRNA seasonal influenza vaccine Phase 1 trial with results due in Q4 2021.

“Translate Bio adds an mRNA technology platform and strong capabilities to our research, further advancing our ability to explore the promise of this technology to develop both best-in-class vaccines and therapeutics,” said Paul Hudson, Sanofi Chief Executive Officer. “A fully owned platform allows us to develop additional opportunities in the fast-evolving mRNA space. We will also be able to accelerate our existing partnered programs already under development. Our goal is to unlock the potential of mRNA in other strategic areas such as immunology, oncology, and rare diseases in addition to vaccines.”