MedImmune acquires Spirogen in deal worth up to $440m

MedImmune, the global biologics R&D arm of AstraZeneca, has acquired Spirogen in a deal worth up to US $440 million.

Spirogen is a privately-held biotech focused on antibody-drug conjugate technology for use in oncology. The deal also includes a collaboration agreement with ADC Therapeutics to jointly develop two of ADC Therapeutic's antibody-drug conjugate programmes in preclinical development. MedImmune will also make an equity investment in ADC Therapeutics, which has an existing licensing agreement with Spirogen.

MedImmune will pay Spirogen $200 million upfront and then up to $240 million based on reaching predetermined development milestones. The company will also pay $20 million for an equity investment in ADC Therapeutics, which will be matched by Auven Therapeutics, the majority shareholder in both ADC Therapeutics and Spirogen.

"Antibody-drug conjugates are ground-breaking technologies with the potential for directly targeting many types of cancer tumours while safeguarding healthy cells. The cutting-edge technologies developed by Spirogen and ADC Therapeutics complement MedImmune's innovative antibody engineering capabilities, enabling us to accelerate antibody-drug conjugates into the clinic,"

Dr. Bahija Jallal, Executive Vice President, MedImmune.

"This deal reflects the very significant progress made by our scientists, most notably over the last two years, as we have applied our warhead and linker technologies to the development of highly potent and specific antibody-drug conjugates. We believe that pyrrolobenzodiazepine-armed antibody-drug conjugates will emerge as a critical component in the next generation of cancer biologics with the potential to make a difference for oncologists and their patients. We look forward to combining our world-class capabilities in this area with MedImmune's ability to develop this exciting class of oncology drugs."

Dr. Chris Martin, Chief Executive Officer, Spirogen.

Oncology is a key therapy area for AstraZeneca. MedImmune is developing a comprehensive portfolio with an emphasis on two key areas in oncology development: antibody-drug conjugates and immune-mediated cancer therapy, which aims to harness the power of the patient's own immune system to fight cancer. Together, immune-mediated cancer therapies and antibody-drug conjugates have the potential to treat cancer in a way that current therapies are unable to do.