BI’s Business Development Focus Remains On Early Collaboration
Executive Summary
Boehringer Ingelheim’s US business development head Ioannis Sapountzis outlines BI’s efforts to catch up with competitors in NASH and immuno-oncology via early-stage partnerships and licensing deals.
Whatever the prevailing winds are in biopharma M&A, privately held Boehringer Ingelheim GMBH’s deal-making approach will remain centered on early-stage collaborations to bolster its therapeutic focus areas, such as cancer, immunology and cardiometabolic disease, US business development head Ioannis Sapountzis said during an interview at BIO’s 2018 International Convention in Boston earlier this month.
Other than a deal that took about 14 months to close from late 2015 to early 2017, in which the German pharma swapped its consumer health unit in exchange for Sanofi’s animal health business, BI maintains a focus on what Sapountzis calls “classical business development and licensing” transactions. But BI does not look to large-scale acquisitions as a source of R&D transformation, he said. [See Deal]
“We’re focusing on partnerships where we jointly develop [something] with a partner, so I think our focus generally is on more classical BD&L types of deals,” said Sapountzis, who leads business development and licensing for the US and specialty care. “M&A is something we should not exclude. Two years ago, BI did an M&A deal with Sanofi on the animal health business, but for us organic growth is something that we favor.”
Since moving into his current role at the family-owned firm a couple years ago – after roughly a decade working on the research side at BI – Sapountzis has focused his efforts mainly on advancing the company’s R&D efforts in immuno-oncology and cardiometabolic health, specifically non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.
(Also see "Boehringer Ingelheim's Partnering Focus: An Interview With Ioannis Sapountzis" - Scrip, 30 Jun, 2017.) It uses three processes – the BD&L deals he oversees, the corporate venture arm, and its Research Beyond Borders effort to look into therapeutic areas such as hearing loss and infectious disease where it may place future emphasis, he said.
“I think many M&A deals are transformational for the top-line and not so much for entering [new] therapeutic areas,” BI’s Sapountzis said.
“There also is the opportunity to combine these,” Sapountzis added. “Sometimes an investment leads to a partnership and that from time to time may lead to an acquisition. But we want to be involved early on in driving science forward."
“We do not have a need for adding a lot of top-line sales at this time,” the exec continued. “We had double-digit growth on pharma sales last year. I think many M&A deals are transformational for the top-line and not so much for entering [new] therapeutic areas. BI, through our long-term focus, does not have to act on a market that, honestly, is quite high-priced at the moment. There is a lot premium being paid and being expected. We may not be able to wrap our head around some of the valuations that we currently see.”
But in smaller deal-making, BI has remained busy focusing on collaborations to build up its focus therapeutic areas. (Also see "Boehringer Ingelheim Confident Of A Happier Ending In NASH Than HCV" - Scrip, 5 Jan, 2018.) “We are using our insights in fibrotic mechanisms in NASH,” he explained. “We continue to be a leader in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis [with Ofev (nintedanib)] and have learned a lot about fibrotic diseases and hope to capitalize on this for our NASH program. What we’ve done in the last year is entered into two new partnerships – one with MiNA Therapeutics Ltd. and the other with Dicerna Pharmaceuticals Inc. – both using RNA-interference to target mechanisms that we thought were not druggable.”
The partnerships with MiNA and Dicerna add to the AOC3 inhibitor BI-146733 – obtained via a 2015 option deal with Pharmaxis Ltd. [See Deal] – now in Phase II in NASH, as well as in diabetic retinopathy. “With this new modality we are opening up new treatment options for patients,” Sapountzis continued. “We are partnering with both companies on advancing the science in this area, from a NASH and a new therapeutic modality perspective.”
Those deals reflect the thinking that BI looks to advance treatment paradigms in its therapeutic focus areas, whether by looking for better molecules, new modalities or both, he said. In the cardiometabolic space, the company’s focus includes type 2 diabetes, obesity and diabetic complications.
Immuno-Oncology R&D Emphasizes Four Pillars
Similarly, in immuno-oncology, BI has looked to early-stage collaborations in an effort to catch up in a hyper-competitive space, with an emphasis on solid tumors. BI has its own PD-1 inhibitor in development in case it is needed for internal combination therapy approaches, but also is looking to lead in novel immunotherapy mechanisms, Sapountzis said. In terms of indications, the company’s IO work focuses on the busy lung cancer arena, but also the somewhat less competitive gastrointestinal cancer space, he added.
In IO, BI has identified four therapeutic types as pillars of its R&D effort: oncolytic viruses, cancer vaccines, T-cell engagers and immune regulatory receptor modulators. In April, it licensed global rights to OSE Immunotherapeutics SA’s novel SIRP alpha receptor antagonist OSE-172, which Sapountzis said the company hopes to combine with its own IO candidates. (Also see "OSE Immunotherapeutics Adds Boehringer Ingelheim To Its Pharma Partnering List " - Scrip, 9 Apr, 2018.) Expected to enter clinical development in 2019, OSE-172 is thought to work by turning myeloid suppressor cells into anti-tumor cells.
On the T-cell engager side, BI partnered last November with Boston-area biotech Siamab Therapeutics Inc. to develop antibody therapeutics for solid tumors that target tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs). [See Deal] Sapountzis said the goal of this collaboration is to develop bispecific antibodies that can harness the immune system by re-directing T-cells to a specific site in the body or a tumor. Siamab’s approach combines a glycoprotein therapeutic with a targeting antibody.