Ipsen and Foreseen Biotechnology have entered into an exclusive global licensing agreement worth up to $1.03bn for a preclinical antibody-drug conjugate (ADC).
The deal gives Ipsen exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise Foreseen’s FS001, which targets a tumour-associated antigen that is overexpressed in many solid tumours.
The asset is completing the final stages of preclinical development and has already demonstrated preclinical efficacy in multi-drug resistant cancer models and shown a favourable preclinical safety profile, the companies said.
Ipsen will assume responsibility for phase 1 preparation activities, including the submission of an investigational new drug application, as well as all further clinical development, manufacturing and global commercialisation activities.
In exchange, Foreseen will be eligible to receive up to $1.03bn in upfront, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, and tiered royalties on future global sales.
Mary Jane Hinrichs, senior vice president and head of early development at Ipsen, said: “Using cutting-edge proteomics technology and artificial intelligence-powered screening platforms the Foreseen team has uncovered a novel and clinically relevant target which could unlock the potential of ADCs for even more people living with hard-to-treat forms of cancer.
“As we prepare for the initiation of a phase 1 clinical trial, we will evaluate FS001 in selected solid tumour types, which we hope will deliver critical new treatments for people living with cancer around the world.”
Catherine Wong, founder and chairman of Foreseen, said the company was “pleased to be collaborating with Ipsen to advance FS001 globally”, adding that it believes the candidate “has the potential to treat multiple cancers as a single agent or in combination with standard of care”.
ADCs are a new class of cancer therapies designed to precisely target and kill tumour cells while sparing healthy ones.
FS001 is the second ADC that Ipsen has in-licenced this year, after it gained exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise Sutro Biopharma’s preclinical ADC in a deal worth up to $900m.
STRO-003, which was the first ADC candidate to be added to Ipsen’s portfolio, targets a tumour antigen that is known to be overexpressed in many different cancer types, including solid tumours and haematological malignancies.