Sanofi-Aventis Joins Forces with Regeneron
The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-aventis is joining the biotech bandwagon. Initially thought to be a slowmover in the biotech field, it is now stepping up its drug development program and is particularly concentrating on the development of therapeutic antibodies.
In order to attain these goals, Sanofi-aventis has decided to increase its stake in the biotech company Regeneron from 4% to 19%. As part of the payment, Sanofi-aventis will fund a big part of research costs in the next five years. Research will focus on the development of fully human monoclonal antibodies [1, 2].
Part of the colloboration portfolio are two promising drugs, namely:
- Antibody to Interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R), indicated for rheumatoid arthritis, currently undergoing Phase I clinical trials.
- Antibody to Delta-like ligand-4 (Dll4), indicated for tumors, to enter clinical development in 2008.
From this collaboration, Sanofi-aventis aims to develop about 20 drug candidates annually and targets about 30 new drug submissions by the end of 2010 [1,2].
[1] 29 Nov 2007, Sanofi-aventis press release
[2] 29 Nov 2007, Regeneron press release
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- PharMed News » Blog Archive » The Acquisitions Continue: Roche buys Piramed replied:
[…] This is not the first time that big pharma takes over small but promising biotech firms. Pfizer bought Angiosyn in 2005. Merck acquired Sirna in 2006. Sanofi Aventis joined forces with Regeneron last year. […]
April 17th, 2008 at 1:40 am. Permalink.