AstraZeneca is offloading a pneumonia prevention medicine to Aridis Pharmaceuticals through a worldwide licensing deal, which will net the Big Pharma $11 million in cash and a further $115 million down the line.
Usually, these deals go the other way around, with a major company picking up rights to a smaller biotech’s candidate, but in this case, the U.K. drugmaker is the one passing on an asset.
The monoclonal antibody candidate, called suvratoxumab, is ready for phase 3 testing after earlier mid-stage data found the therapy induced a 47% reduction of pneumonia in patients younger than 65 who were on ventilators, Aridis said in a press release. The patients also saw a reduction in the number of days needed in the ICU or hospital.
Data published in The Lancet in April, however, suggested the trial was unsuccessful at reducing the incidence of pneumonia caused by staphylococcus aureus infection, which is a leading cause of ventilator-associated pneumonia. The analysis included the entire trial population of 767 patients. Aridis focused on a subset of 196 patients younger than 65 in its release.
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AstraZeneca is going to stay involved with suvratoxumab, as the new deal gives the company an equity stake in Aridis and allows for first negotiations on future licensing. The upfront payment will add a further $115 million for AstraZeneca if certain development and sales milestones are met.
Aridis is expecting to launch a phase 3 study in the fourth quarter. The biotech has received €25 million for the study from the EU Commission's Innovative Medicines Initiative.
"We are pleased to have been selected as AstraZeneca's licensee," said Aridis CEO Vu Truong, Ph.D. “The strong data from the phase 2 trial gives us an advantage to define the patient population, primary endpoint, and the phase 3 clinical study design to support a clear path to the phase 3 confirmatory trial.”
Aridis, which focuses on developing anti-infective treatments that can be used in conjunction with antibiotics, believes suvratoxumab can fulfill an unmet medical need for a high-risk population.
The drug is a little like what we are seeing with COVID vaccines and mAbs: With pnuemonia, there are vaccines, such as ones from Pfizer and Merck, for many different strains of bacterical pneumonia, but AZ is also upping the arsenal with this antibody to help reduce the risk of the disease when it has already hit.
"Suvratoxumab has the potential to transform pulmonary infection management in ventilated patients,” said AstraZeneca’s Mark Esser, VP of Microbial Sciences and BioPharmaceuticals R&D. “We are pleased to complete this licensing deal with Aridis who we believe are well placed to take suvratoxumab forward."
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The therapy, while under AstraZeneca’s wing, was granted a fast-track designation in the U.S. Phase 2 clinical trials were supported by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as part of their efforts to combat antibiotic resistance. The U.S. research agency said suvratoxumab is not an antibiotic but can be administered along with the common treatments.