A roundup of bio/pharmaceutical partnering news from Roche’ Genentech/GenEdit, Gilead/Arcus BioSciences and Astellas/Mass General Brigham. 

* Roche’s Genentech, GenEdit in $644-M Nanoparticle Drug-Delivery Pact
* Gilead Takes Additional $320-M Stake in Bio/Pharma Company Arcus 
* Astellas, Mass General Brigham in R&D Pact 

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Roche’s Genentech, GenEdit in $644-M Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Pact 
Roche’s Genentech and GenEdit, a South San Francisco, California-based bio/pharmaceutical company, have entered a multi-year collaboration and license agreement for nanoparticle drug delivery, in a deal worth up to $644 million ($15 million upfront and $629 million in milestone payments).  

The companies will employ GenEdit’s NanoGalaxy platform to discover and develop nanoparticles to deliver Genentech’s nucleic acid-based medicines for the treatment of autoimmune disease. 

Under the agreement, GenEdit will collaborate with Genentech to discover and develop hydrophilic nanoparticles that can be used to develop nucleic acid-based medicines for autoimmune indications. Genentech will be responsible for preclinical, clinical, and regulatory development as well as commercialization of products resulting from the use of GenEdit’s nanoparticles. 

GenEdit will receive an upfront payment of $15 million and is eligible to receive up to $629 million in near-term, preclinical and clinical development, commercial, and net sales milestone payments over the course of the collaboration as well as tiered royalties on global net sales for resulting products. 

Source: GenEdit 

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Gilead Takes Additional $320-M Stake in Bio/Pharma Company Arcus 
Gilead Sciences and Arcus Biosciences, a Hayward, California bio/pharmaceutical company focused on cancer immunotherapies, have announced an amendment to their collaboration agreement with Gilead taking an additional $320-million equity stake in Arcus. The two companies first began their collaboration in November 2021 

Among the changes to the company’s original agreement, Gilead and Arcus have reprioritized the joint development program for domvanalimab to focus on advancing and potentially accelerating the Phase III studies for lung cancer and gastrointestinal cancer, which are both expected to be fully enrolled by year-end (2024). The companies also plan to initiate a new registrational Phase III lung-cancer study that includes a regimen of domvanalimab plus zimberelimab.  

Source: Gilead Sciences 

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Astellas, Mass General Brigham in R&D Pact 
Astellas Pharma and Mass General Brigham have entered a five-year R&D collaboration to advance translational medicine and accelerate early development of therapies. Initial projects of mutual interest will be focused in key areas of R&D investment for Astellas, including oncology, rare disease, and cell and gene therapies. 

Source: Astellas