Xentria’s bid to find a new use for TNF inhibitors has landed it with $45 million in the bank. Building on evidence that Remicade improves outcomes in a lung disease, Xentria has persuaded Meitheal Pharmaceuticals to hand over the upfront payment and offer more than $600 million in potential future paydays for North American rights to its candidate.
Like Johnson & Johnson’s Remicade and AbbVie’s Humira, Xentria’s candidate, XTMAB-16, is an anti-TNF antibody. J&J and AbbVie squeezed many billions of dollars out of those drugs by winning approvals in a long list of indications but never received authorization in the rare lung disease pulmonary sarcoidosis, despite a phase 2 clinical trial linking Remicade to improved lung function in the population in 2006.
While existing products are limited to off-label use, Xentria sees an opportunity to bring a TNF inhibitor to market in the indication. Meitheal shares the vision, leading it to pay $45 million upfront for rights to XTMAB-16 in North America.
Xentria will get a further $35 million on regulatory submission and approval of XTMAB-16. Beyond that, the deal features upward of $600 million in potential milestone-based royalties. Xentria will transfer the XTMAB-16 intellectual property to Meitheal’s parent company, King Friend Industry, if the royalties pass $600 million. Xentria retains the marketing rights in all other countries subject to a right of first offer.
The next step is to show XTMAB-16 is safe and effective in the indication. A phase 2 clinical trial is set to start later this year. The study will build on the research of Xentria and its collaborators, details of which were published in Frontiers in Pharmacology earlier this year. The paper describes the use of in vitro and pharmacokinetic models to inform dose selection.
Another section of the paper touches on the structural differences between XTMAB-16 and approved TNF inhibitors, noting that the distinct molecular structure of the investigational antibody may mitigate safety and immunogenicity concerns.