A month after making a foray into the bustling radioligand field, Sanofi is further allying itself with Orano Med, paying €300 million for a 16% stake in the alpha-focused radiopharma company.
Last month, Sanofi teamed up with Orano Med and its partner RadioMedix, paying €100 million (about $110 million) in upfront payments to gain access to the duo’s experimental radioligand treatment, called AlphaMedix. They could also get up to approximately €220 million ($242 million) in aggregate sales milestones, plus tiered royalties. Sanofi plans to drive commercialization, while Orano Med steers manufacturing.
Paul Hudson“We are excited to partner with Orano in establishing a French leader that unites our respective expertise in biopharma and nuclear technology to drive groundbreaking progress in the fight against cancer,” Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson said Thursday in a statement when it disclosed the deal.
Sanofi said in September the companies were finishing up a Phase 2 of AlphaMedix in certain neuroendocrine tumors (think Novartis’ Lutathera), and the data were “being discussed with the FDA for potential regulatory filing and approval.” AlphaMedix is a lead-212-based agent, which is part of the alpha class of radioligand therapies. Other companies in the lead-212, or ²¹²Pb, space include Perspective Therapeutics and Artbio.
The companies now plan to work together to “further accelerate” Orano Med’s pipeline of next-generation radioligand medicines, according to the announcement.
The investment arrives as Sanofi is rethinking its identity under Hudson’s leadership. The drugmaker is doubling down on immunology, trying to offload its consumer health unit Opella (though that is running into challenges in France) and reshaping its oncology pipeline.
Sanofi is a relatively late entrant to the radiopharma field compared to some of its pharma peers. The market has exploded in recent years with Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Novartis all buying radiopharma companies. Investors are also pouring cash into megarounds, with Bayer’s radioisotope supplier PanTera banking a $103 million round and multiple pharmaceutical makers backing Aktis Oncology’s $175 million Series B last month.
Sanofi highlighted Orano Med’s “vast stock of raw materials and patented manufacturing process.” Orano Med has an alpha therapy production site near Indianapolis and started construction last year on a facility in France for the European market. The Orano Group subsidiary has a research unit in Plano, TX.
Orano Med’s pipeline also includes prostate cancer and other solid tumor programs. It also has partnerships with Roche and Molecular Partners.