Sanofi and IGM Biosciences Announce Collaboration Agreement for Oncology, Immunology and Inflammation Targets

Sanofi and IGM Biosciences, Inc. announced the signing of an exclusive worldwide collaboration agreement to create, develop, manufacture, and commercialize IgM antibody agonists against three oncology targets and three immunology/inflammation targets. Engineered IgM antibodies represent a new class of potential therapeutics that combine the multi-valency of IgM antibodies possessing 10 binding sites compared to conventional IgG antibodies having only 2 target binding sites.

John Reed, M.D., Ph.D.
Global Head of Research and Development, Sanofi
“We look forward to this collaboration with IGM Biosciences, a pioneer in a new class of antibody medicines for the treatment of cancer, immunology, and inflammatory diseases. The IGM Biosciences technology platform offers an exciting approach to developing high-avidity IgM antibodies that can efficiently bind and stimulate the activity of cell surface receptors. This unique platform has the potential to overcome historical limitations of conventional IgG antibodies when seeking agonists of some classes of receptors.”

Fred Schwarzer
Chief Executive Officer of IGM Biosciences
“Sanofi is a global leader in the development and commercialization of innovative therapies, and we welcome the addition of their extensive expertise and resources in expanding and accelerating the development of our IgM antibody platform across multiple areas of high unmet need. This partnership builds on an existing research collaboration with Sanofi and is a key step towards our goal of unlocking the full breadth of potential for this important new class of therapeutics. We are pleased to share this vision with Sanofi and look forward to working together on these six potentially first- and best-in-class programs.”

Terms of the Collaboration
Under the terms of the agreement, IGM will receive a $ 150 million upfront payment. Sanofi has also expressed an interest in purchasing up to $100M of IGM non-voting common stock in a public financing.

For each oncology target collaboration program, IGM will lead research and development activities, and assume related costs, through approval of the first biologics license application (BLA) for a product directed to that oncology target by the FDA or EMA in exchange for up to $940 million in development and regulatory milestones per oncology target. After receipt of the first marketing approval for a product directed to an oncology target, Sanofi will lead all subsequent development and commercialization activities for that oncology target. For each oncology target, the companies will share profits 50:50 in certain major markets, and IGM will be eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales in the rest of world.

For each immunology/inflammation target collaboration program, IGM will lead research and development activities, and assume related costs, through the completion of Phase 1 clinical trial for up to two constructs directed to each immunology/inflammation target, after which Sanofi will be responsible for all future development and related costs, in exchange for up to $1,065 million in aggregate development and regulatory and commercial milestones per immunology/inflammation target. Following the completion of Phase 1 clinical trial for each immunology/inflammation target, Sanofi will be responsible for subsequent development activities, commercialization efforts, and related costs. IGM is eligible to receive tiered high single-digit to low-teen royalties on global net sales.

Closing of the collaboration is contingent on completion of review under antitrust laws, including the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in the U.S., and customary closing conditions.

About IGM Biosciences, Inc.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, IGM Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on creating and developing engineered IgM antibodies. Since 2010, IGM Biosciences has worked to overcome the manufacturing and protein engineering hurdles that have limited the therapeutic use of IgM antibodies. Through its efforts, IGM Biosciences has created a proprietary IgM technology platform for the development of IgM antibodies for those clinical indications where their inherent properties may provide advantages as compared to IgG antibodies.

About Sanofi
We are an innovative global healthcare company, driven by one purpose: we chase the miracles of science to improve people’s lives. Our team, across some 100 countries, is dedicated to transforming the practice of medicine by working to turn the impossible into the possible. We provide potentially life-changing treatment options and life-saving vaccine protection to millions of people globally, while putting sustainability and social responsibility at the center of our ambitions.