Pharmaceutical company SitalaBio shells out $670 million for Fosun's inflammation treatment drug asset
In a significant move, Sitala Bio, a biotech company founded by Matthew Cooper in 2021 with the backing of Forbion and OrbiMed, has secured the global rights to the oral anti-inflammatory drug FXS6837 from Shanghai Fosun Pharma.
Under the terms of the licensing agreement, Sitala Bio will pay an upfront fee of US$25 million, with potential milestone payments totaling US$165 million, and a share of annual sales of up to US$480 million if FXS6837 is approved. Fosun Pharmaceuticals International will acquire a 10% stake in Sitala Bio as part of the deal.
FXS6837 is currently in clinical Phase 2 and the focus of Sitala Bio's work is on medicines that target the removal of toxins from the brain by immune cells. The company aims to slow down the progression of conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
While Fosun Pharma owns the independent patent rights underlying the development of FXS6837, no information about the specific toxins targeted by Sitala Bio's medicines or the target of FXS6837 has been disclosed. Similarly, no information about the involvement of Roche AG in Sitala Bio's licensing agreement for FXS6837 has been made public.
It's worth noting that Matthew Cooper, the founder of Sitala Bio, previously sold Inflazome, a company he founded in 2016, to Roche AG for €380m in September 2020. Inflazome's focus was on the development of low-molecular NLRP3 blockers, which is different from Sitala Bio's current focus.
Luke O'Neill, who was a co-founder of Inflazome with Matthew Cooper, is not involved in Sitala Bio. The licensing agreement does not include marketing rights in China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
A Phase I study of FXS6837 was conducted in Australia, but it is not listed under the specified code name in the Australian study registry. The progress and results of this study have not been disclosed.
As Sitala Bio moves forward with the development of FXS6837, the company is poised to make significant strides in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, with the potential to bring much-needed treatments to patients suffering from conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
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