RE:Big pharma is set to keep signing bigger deals in 2024As well as oncology, the changing regulatory landscape is leading to other assets becoming attractive acquisition targets. With legislation such as the IRA unlikely to affect the price point for orphan drugs, companies specializing in rare diseases have become significant M&A targets, commanding high multiples and driving some of the biggest deals.
October 04, 2024 - Milan-based Recordati will pay $825 million upfront and will pledge up to $250 million in sales-based milestones for Sanofi's humanized monoclonal antibody treatment for the rare autoimmune disorder cold agglutinin disease, which afflicts approximately 11,000 patients in the U.S., Japan and Europe.
Per the Cleveland Clinic, patients can adjust their lifestyles, to avoid cold temperatures to prevent CAD-driven anemia. Rituxan, an anti-CD20 antibody from Genentech and Biogen, is also typically prescribed to patients.
https://www.biospace.com/business/sanofi-offloads-rare-autoimmune-drug-to-recordati-in-potential-1b-deal
ONCY's pelareorep is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for the rare disease of SCCA (anal cancer) which in 2020 was estimated to have an incidence of 50,000 new cases and 19,000 deaths reported worldwide that year.
The increasing incidence of SCCA could be related to the unfavourable pattern of recognised sexual-related risk factors as well as the high prevalence of these risk factors in certain regions.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10833181/