Deal: Pfizer’s equity investment in Trillium Therapeutics
Further validation of CD47 as a therapeutic target
The “Deal” series of articles discuss business agreements and the implications. These articles offer unique and integrated perspectives to the significance of the agreements.
The equity/collaboration deal
Earlier this year, Pfizer ($PFE) set up a $500M public equity fund called the Pfizer Breakthrough Growth Initiative (ref). They plan to make non-controlling investments in small- to mid-cap biotechnology companies. This positions Pfizer to collaborate with upcoming startups developing innovative medicines, as well as to offer guidance to best practices in research, clinical development, and manufacturing. Likely through this fund, Trillium Therapeutics ($TRIL) recently announced a $25M investment from Pfizer at $10.88 per share (ref). Jeff Settleman, Pfizer’s CSO for Oncology R&D, will join Trillium’s scientific advisory board to support the clinical development of their CD47 programs. While this was a relatively small investment, this launched Trillium’s market cap to well over $1B. In addition to raising their cash position to approximately $150M, Trillium will be conducting a $130M public offering at $13 per share (ref).
Source: Trillium Therapeutics
At the same time of this equity/collaboration agreement, Trillium offered an early update to their ongoing clinical trials (ref). TTI-622 (SIRPα-IgG4 Fc) and TTI-621 (SIRPα-IgG1 Fc) are decoy ligands to block CD47 on tumors. Activity as a well-tolerated monotherapy was observed in both studies, with TTI-622 offering 33% objective responses at 0.8-8 mg/kg doses and 50% at 8 mg/kg dose. One complete response was also observed. In December, Trillium will present further updates on these clinical trials at ASH2020. There will be considerable excitement as the anticipation builds for the coming data release. This deal enables Pfizer to have a first look and strong advantage for any potential M&A.
A brief on the CD47 landscape
What is CD47? It is a “don’t eat me” signal that protects cells from being phagocytosed by circulating macrophages (ref). It was traditionally known as a marker of self on red blood cells to prevent the immune system from its elimination and regulate hemolytic anemia (ref). Recently, it has been observed that CD47 is upregulated in cancers and that CD47 blockade will facilitate phagocytosis of tumor cells that were otherwise protected (ref). Since this discovery, multiple startups have been launched to develop CD47 antagonists, either using monoclonal antibodies or SIRPα (the CD47 ligand) as a decoy.
One startup that spun out of Stanford University is Forty Seven (formerly $FTSV), which was acquired earlier this year for $4.9B by Gilead Sciences ($GILD) (ref). This eponymous startup is developing magrolimab, a monoclonal antibody for blocking CD47, that demonstrated promising clinical activity in the phase 1b trial last year. Recently, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy designation to magrolimab for treating myelodysplastic (ref). Other assets from Forty Seven include an anti-SIRPα antibody (FSI-189) and anti-cKIT antibody (FSI-174). Another startup of note is ALX Oncology ($ALXO), which recently closed its initial public offering and raised $185.7M at $19 per share (ref). ALX Oncology’s lead asset is an engineered SIRPα fused to an inactivated IgG1 Fc domain (ref). From across the Pacific Ocean, I-MAB ($IMAB) recently announced a partnership with AbbVie ($ABBV) to advance clinical development of lemzoparlimab, an anti-CD47 antibody (ref) . This Chinese biotech startup will receive an upfront payment of $180M and up to $1.74B in milestone payments. In addition to strengthening its commercial opportunity in China, the therapeutic combination of I-MAB’s lemzoparlimab and AbbVie’s venetoclax could be explored. While competition in the CD47 space is fierce, it is also an indication to the considerable promise that these therapeutic assets hold.
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Ergo Bio closely follows innovation in the biotechnology space and evaluates interesting drugs and deals. It is run by Vandon T Duong (LinkedIn), feel free to connect! I am a biotech enthusiast and a molecular engineer by training. I am also an avid consumer of news and research around precision medicine.
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