GeNeuro Partners With Servier In $455M Deal To Co-Develop MS Drug
By C. Rajan, contributing writer
Geneva-based biotech firm, GeNeuro, has entered a partnership with French pharmaceutical company, Servier, to co-develop and market a novel Multiple Sclerosis (MS) treatment. The experimental MS treatment, called GNbAC1, is the first drug of its kind that addresses a causal factor of the disease.
GeNeuro, a spin-off of the Institut Mérieux where this technology was originally discovered, stands to gain up to $455 million in the deal. Under the terms of the agreement, GeNeuro is responsible for taking the drug through Phase 2b trial. After completion of this study, Servier can exercise the option to license the product for all markets, excluding the U.S. and Japan, in which rights will be retained by GeNeuro.
Servier will fund the Phase 2b trial of GNbAC1 by paying GeNeuro $47 million. If it exercises the option agreement, Servier will cover the costs of the Phase 3 global development program as well.
Servier will pay GeNeuro up to $408 million in future milestone based payments for pre-determined development and sales goals, as well as royalties on future sales. Servier can also exercise the option for an equity stake in GeNeuro as a minority shareholder in the next year.
Christian de Bodinat, Director of the Neuro-psychiatry Therapeutic Innovation Centre mentioned, “MS – and especially its progressive forms – is still today a major source of handicap in the world with no satisfactory therapeutic options. We are also confident that the strong expertise of GeNeuro in MS combined with Servier’s clinical experience in neurology will result in a perfect match for driving GNbAC1 to success.”
GNbAC1 is a humanized monoclonal antibody, which would be able to stop or slow down the progression of both the relapsing-remitting and progressive forms of MS, without affecting a patient’s immune system. Currently available MS therapies only address the relapsing-remitting MS form, by targeting the immune system. However, they do not address the underlying cause and thus cannot impact disease progression. They also compromise the immune system, leading to infections and cancer in some cases.
GNbAC1 targets the envelope protein of MS-associated retrovirus, MSRV-Env, which is expressed in MS lesions from an early stage in the disease. MSRV-Env has been implicated in MS pathophysiology, as it is causes inflammation and inhibits the essential remyelination process.
In September this year, GNbAC1 successfully completed a Phase 2a study, showing a good safety profile, as well as a positive pharmacodynamic response to the treatment in a small test group of nine patients.
“GNbAC1’s original mode of action proposes a true innovation in the field of MS,” says Prof Hans-Peter Hartung, chairman of the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital Düsseldorf and chairman of GeNeuro’s Advisory Board.