Sanofi to pay $1.2bn to acquire Amunix and its ‘stealth’ technology

Sanofi will acquire Amunix’s next-generation protein engineering tech that allows biologic drugs to circulate in ‘stealth’ mode, becoming active only in diseased tissues

Excerpt from the Press Release:

Sanofi has agreed to purchase US-based immuno-oncology company Amunix Pharmaceuticals for $1bn upfront and another $225m in milestones.

The deal brings with it Amunix’s proprietary ‘stealth’ technology XTEN and masking technology platform Pro-XTENTM, with the aim of developing ‘transformative T-cell engagers (TCE) and cytokine therapies for patients with cancer’.

“The Amunix technology platform utilises a next generation smart biologics approach to precisely tailor-deliver medicines to become active only in tumour tissues while sparing normal tissues, thus bringing the promise of more effective and safer treatment options for cancer patients,” said Dr John Reed, Sanofi’s head of R&D.

This is the third major acquisition by Sanofi in only a few months. In September the company completed its $3.2bn purchase of Translate Bio, aimed at bolstering its vaccines and mRNA capabilities, while in November it paid $1.9bn for Kadmon to strengthen its general medicines portfolio.

Acquisition of Amunix’s pipeline, including lead candidate AMX-818, will expand Sanofi’s oncology efforts. AMX-818 is a masked T-cell engager targeting HER2, a receptor tyrosine kinase expressed on a wide variety of solid tumours including breast, gastric, non-small cell lung and colorectal cancers.

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