Biotech Deals Stand Out In 2018 Korean Licensing Trends
Executive Summary
Scrip takes a look at Korean out-licensing deal trends and rankings in 2018, finding biotech-related transactions were dominant.
Out-licensing deals by South Korean companies picked up speed in 2018 after relative sluggishness in the past couple of years. Large out-licensing transactions by biotechs noticeably increased, reflecting moves by Korean ventures to step up efforts to find global partners and that their new drug R&D expertise is being more globally recognized.
Although oncology deals, including in immuno-oncology, still accounted for the biggest proportion, agreements were generally reached across more diverse disease areas, ranging from oncology and degenerative osteoarthritis to anti-infectives and a universal flu vaccine. This is different from the trends seen in the past few years, where large-scale deals by firms such as Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. accounted for a substantial portion of overall transactions, and oncology and metabolic disease dominated. (Also see "Oncology, Diabetes Dominate Korean Out-Licensing But Deals And Value Decline " - Scrip, 5 Jul, 2018.)
Among pharma companies, Yuhan Corp. stepped up in 2018 with two large deals, while biotechs such as ABL Bio Corp. and iNtRON Biotechnology Inc.’s also reached sizable licensing agreements.
Yuhan Leads Top Five Deals
The biggest licensing out deal reached last year was Yuhan Corp.’s co-development pact in November with Janssen Biotech Inc., for the South Korean company's novel third-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor lazertinib, worth as much as $1.25bn in total plus double-digit sales royalties to Yuhan along with the drug's originators Oscotec Inc. and its US subsidiary Genosco. (Also see "Yuhan Strikes Long-Awaited Lung Cancer Deal Through Huge Janssen Alliance" - Scrip, 5 Nov, 2018.)
The deal marked a successful collaborative innovation case by Yuhan and biotech Oscotec, as the leading Korean pharma firm had licensed in lazertinib from Oscotec and Genosco a few years ago.
The second biggest licensing agreement of the year was Korean biotech iNtRON Biotechnology’s global alliance with Roivant Sciences GMBH, also reached in November, for SAL200, a novel investigational biologic under development by the South Korean biotech for the treatment of infectious diseases caused by antibiotic-resistant staphylococci. This was worth up to $667.5m plus sales royalties. (Also see "Roivant Buoys Anti-Infective Portfolio With Novel iNtRON Asset" - Scrip, 21 Nov, 2018.)
ABL Bio Corp. signed an out-licensing agreement with US-based TRIGR Therapeutics Inc. for ABL001, a bispecific antibody candidate targeting two angiogenic factors VEGF and DLL4, in oncology and ophthalmology, in a deal worth as much as $595m plus sales royalties.
Also in November, Kolon Life Science Inc. reached a sizable license deal with Mundipharma International Corp. Ltd. for the development in Japan of the South Korean company’s first-in-class cell and gene therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee Invossa (TC-C; tonogenchoncel-L), in a transaction worth $591.7m plus sales royalties. (Also see "Kolon Bounces Back From Failed Japan Invossa Deal With Bigger Mundipharma Alliance" - Scrip, 19 Nov, 2018.)
The agreement is the largest licensing-out deal for a South Korean pharma company for a single country and is bigger in value than Kolon's previous Japanese deal for Invossa with Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp., which collapsed in 2017.
The next biggest deal was reached in July by biotech ABL Bio, which signed a binding agreement with US-based biopharma TRIGR Therapeutics for TRIGR to license the global commercial rights to ABL Bio’s pipeline of novel therapeutic antibodies to treat cancer, in a transaction worth as much as $554.3m plus sales royalties. (Also see "Deal Watch: BioCryst Shareholder Dissent Scuttles Planned Merger With Idera" - Scrip, 13 Jul, 2018.)
JW, Yuhan, Dong-A, SK Chemical, CrystalGenomics
The sixth-largest deal of the year was that by South Korean pharma JW Pharmaceutical Corp. and Denmark-based Leo Pharma AS, a global licensing agreement for the former’s novel atopic dermatitis drug candidate, JW1601, worth up to $402m plus sales royalties. (Also see "Deal Watch: Emergent Strikes Again, Acquiring Adapt And Its Opioid Overdose Drug For $635m" - Scrip, 29 Aug, 2018.)
Following was the agreement between Yuhan and Spine Biopharma LLC under which the Korean firm licensed out its investigative degenerative disc therapy YH14618 to US-based Spine in a deal worth up to $218m plus sales royalties. (Also see "Yuhan Licenses Out Degenerative Disc Therapy To Spine Despite Earlier Trial Failure" - Scrip, 1 Aug, 2018.) The agreement drew particular interest as Yuhan had halted clinical development after the failure of the therapy in a Phase II Korean study in 2016. Korean biotech Ensol Biosciences, the originator and licensor of the drug, will receive 25% of the payments under the new deal.
Dong-A ST Co. Ltd.’s botanical drug deal with NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, to which Dong-A ST licensed out its botanical drug candidate for diabetic neuropathic pain, and sold its botanical drug program for Alzheimer's disease to Boston-based NeuroBo Pharmaceuticals, ranked eighth in size. (Also see "Dong-A Ties With NeuroBo For Diabetic Neuropathy, Alzheimer's" - Scrip, 19 Jan, 2018.)
Under the agreement, Dong-A ST granted global development and commercialization rights of DA-9801, its botanical drug candidate for diabetic neuropathic pain, to NeuroBo, in a deal worth $180m plus sales royalties. Dong-A also additionally agreed to sell DA-9803, its botanical drug candidate for neurodegenerative disease, to NeuroBo. The US firm will acquire the asset and proceed with global development, while Dong-A will receive $5m and a 24% stake in NeuroBo in return. (The value of 24% stake wasn’t counted in this story’s licensing deal ranking.)
Next came SK Chemicals Co. Ltd.’ licensing deal with Sanofi Pasteur, under which SK reached a license agreement to apply its in-house developed cell culture-based vaccine production technology to Sanofi Pasteur's universal flu vaccine in a deal worth $155m, marking the largest ever out-licensing deal for a South Korea-developed vaccine technology. (Also see "Deal Watch: Roche Goes All-In On Real-World Data With Flatiron Acquisition" - Scrip, 19 Feb, 2018.)
In at 10th position was the deal reached by CrystalGenomics Inc. (Also see "Deal Watch, Focus On Asia: Cipla Licenses India Rights To Lilly’s Basalgar" - Scrip, 19 Jun, 2018.). Under this, Aptose Biosciences Inc. licensed rights in China, Hong Kong and Macau to CG-806, an oral, first-in-class pan-FLT3/pan-BTK multi-kinase inhibitor from CrystalGenomics. The candidate represents a potential best-in-class therapeutic for patients with acute myelogenous leukemia, and the total deal value for the Chinese territory, including the upfront payment, is up to $125m.
Sizable Acquisitions By Korean Firms At Home And Abroad
Meanwhile, there were also a couple of notable mergers and acquisitions involving domestic pharma/biotech companies. Kolmar Korea has become the new owner of CJ HealthCare Corp., the pharma affiliate of CJ Group, in an acquisition deal valued at KRW1.31tn ($1.21bn), enabling the cosmetics and pharma company to transform into a larger and more integrated healthcare firm. (Also see "Kolmar Korea Eyes Pharma Expansion Via CJ HealthCare Acquisition" - Scrip, 21 Feb, 2018.)
SK Group acquired 100% of California-based AMPAC Fine Chemicals, raising the South Korean conglomerate’s CDMO manufacturing capacity to about one million liters. (Also see "SK Acquires AMPAC, On Track To Meet Global Contract Manufacturing Ambitions" - Scrip, 16 Jul, 2018.) The deal followed the group affiliate SK Biotek’s purchase of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility in Swords, Ireland in 2017.
From the editors of PharmAsia News.