• Sanofi  to  acquire  Inhibrx’s  AATD  therapy  INBRX‐101,  which  incorporates  a  novel  formulation  developed under a license agreement using Arecor’s Arestat™ technology, for up to $2.2 billion
• Terms of Arecor’s license agreement are unchanged. Arecor remains entitled to further payments on achievement of certain development, regulatory and commercial milestones along with annual Technology Access Fees post commercialisation 

Arecor  Therapeutics  plc  (AIM:  AREC),  the  biopharmaceutical  group  advancing today’s therapies to enable healthier lives, notes the news announced today from Inhibrx, Inc. (Nasdaq: INBX) and Sanofi (Nasdaq: SNY) that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Sanofi will acquire all the assets and liabilities associated with INBRX‐101, an optimized, recombinant alpha‐1  antitrypsin  ("AAT")  augmentation  therapy  currently  in  a  registrational  trial  for  the  treatment  of  patients with alpha‐1 antitrypsin deficiency ("AATD").

INBRX‐101 incorporates a novel enhanced formulation developed by Arecor, using the Company's patented technology, Arestat™, under a license agreement entered into by Arecor and Inhibrx in December 2020. In November 2023, Arecor announced that, under the terms of its license agreement, a milestone payment from Inhibrx had been triggered. The terms of the license agreement remain unchanged and, following the acquisition,  Arecor  remains  entitled  to  further  payments  on  the  achievement  of  certain  development,  regulatory and commercial milestones along with annual Technology Access Fees post commercialisation. The FDA has granted orphan‐drug designation to INBRX‐101 for the treatment of AATD and an initial read‐out from the ongoing registration‐enabling trial is expected to occur in late 2024.

Sarah Howell, Chief Executive Officer of Arecor, said: "Following on from the recent commercialisation of AT220, which is now royalty‐bearing for Arecor, the acquisition of Inhibrx for INBRX‐101 by Sanofi, announced today, is a further endorsement of the Arestat™ platform. Sanofi is a global pharmaceutical leader with a 30‐year heritage in rare diseases and this acquisition highlights both the value of this novel therapy for patients and its future commercial potential. We believe they are well placed to complete the late‐stage development of this novel medicine and, ultimately, bring it to patients in need. We congratulate the Inhibrx team and look forward to working with Inhibrx and Sanofi, as well as updating the market on future developments from this programme.”

INBRX‐101  is  an  optimized  recombinant  human  AAT‐Fc  fusion  protein,  for  treatment  of  patients  with  emphysema due to AATD. AATD is an underdiagnosed inherited orphan genetic disease that can cause serious lung disease in adults and/or liver disease at any age, affecting an estimated 100,000 patients in the United  States.  INBRX‐101  has  the  potential  to  significantly  reduce  the  frequency  of  annual  infusions,  eliminate lung decline from Alpha‐1 Disease, and could significantly improve patient quality of life compared to the current standard of care.

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Published on: 23.01.24