With $45 million in upfront and near-term payments, AstraZeneca is working to expand its EGFR pipeline through a deal with Pinetree Therapeutics for a preclinical protein degrader.
Pinetree is eligible for additional milestones, bringing the total deal value to more than $500 million. The Cambridge, MA-based biotech could also get tiered royalties on net sales.
At the heart of the deal is an option for the UK pharma to license an unnamed pan-EGFR degrader. The UK drugmaker already has the EGFR-targeting tyrosine kinase inhibitor Tagrisso, which is approved for several types of non-small cell lung cancer. Tagrisso made $5.8 billion in sales last year, according to a company earnings release.
Pinetree’s pan-EGFR degrader was developed using its bi-specific and multispecific antibody platform called AbReptor. The candidate has shown anti-tumor impact in preclinical drug-resistant cancer models and demonstrated boosted efficacy when combined with existing EGFR inhibitors, Pinetree CEO Ho-Juhn Song said in a Tuesday release.
Ho-Juhn SongAstraZeneca has made several other oncology moves this year. In May, it paid Chinese-Dutch outfit Nona Biosciences $19 million upfront to tap its preclinical monoclonal antibodies. In March, AstraZeneca entered the radiopharma field when it announced its $2 billion buyout of Fusion Pharmaceuticals.
The deals come as the company touted its goal to launch 20 new drugs by 2030 at an investor day event in May. As part of that commitment, the UK drugmaker said it would broaden its existing oncology footprint, alongside biopharma and rare diseases, to hit $80 billion in revenues that year.