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Roche's Genentech Licenses NovImmune Antibody for Auto-Immune Diseases
Roche Holding AG’s Genentech unit agreed to buy rights to an experimental medicine being developed by NovImmune SA, a closely held Swiss biotechnology company.
Genentech is gaining an early-stage compound, a so-called anti-IL-17 fully human monoclonal antibody, that may be developed to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, Geneva- based NovImmune said today. The company didn’t provide financial details of the accord.
NovImmune has developed its own technology to make monoclonal antibodies, or bioengineered molecules that mimic the action of the body’s own response to infections. The Swiss biotechnology company will get an upfront payment from Genentech and may receive milestone and royalty payments for the anti-IL- 17 antibody, which has yet to be tested in people, as well as additional back-up compounds. NovImmune expects Genentech to begin testing the IL-17 compound in people next year.
“Genentech knows the IL-17 space inside out and will decide the first indication, but an obvious one would be rheumatoid arthritis,” Chief Executive Officer Jack Barbut said today in a telephone interview. “We also expect testing to be expanded to include other indications like multiple sclerosis.”
The company’s decision four years ago to create its own drug-development platform has made it less reliant on the technology it licensed from Medarex Inc. and Cambridge Antibody Technology Group Plc, both of which have been acquired.
‘Well Financed”
While NovImmune is “well financed,” the company plans to raise additional capital in the near term to enable it to move three new compounds into clinical testing over the next 12-24 months, Barbut said. The company is also in talks with other drugmakers over licensing deals and would consider selling shares to the public, he said.
“If a window were to open, we would of course consider it as it would allow us to raise the funds to accelerate our development,” Barbut said. “It really depends on the IPO window, the market and the data we produce.”
NovImmune has raised about 154 million francs ($146 million) in four major rounds of financing and its investors include BZ Bank, Novartis Venture Fund and Pictet Private Equity Fund. The company last year bought back rights to two of its compounds from Merck KGaA’s Serono unit after raising 62.5 million Swiss francs from investors.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dermot Doherty in Geneva at ddoherty9@bloomberg.net
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