Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
A $4.8B bet on a nanobody platform that produced one modest drug, several killed pipeline assets, and no evidence of anywhere near an adequate return.
Full analysis, sources & comparables →European Biotechnology noted that while this was Ablynx's second-largest deal by upfront, it was much smaller than the 2013 AbbVie agreement ($175M upfront for…
Seeking Alpha reported Sanofi shares up ~2% premarket on the news, signaling positive investor reception to Sanofi's expansion of immunology pipeline alongside…
BioPharma Reporter framed the deal as Sanofi acquiring access to Ablynx's small antibody candidates and platform technology in a billion-euro biobucks…
Source summaries from our enrichment pipeline; follow links for originals.
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Ablynx and Sanofi entered a research collaboration and global exclusive licensing agreement for Nanobody-based therapeutics in immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Ablynx received EUR 23M (~$26M) upfront in license/option fees plus ~EUR 8M in research funding, with eligibility for up to EUR 2.4B (~$2.7B) in development, regulatory and commercial milestones plus tiered low double-digit royalties across up to eight Nanobody product candidates.
A $4.8B bet on a nanobody platform that produced one modest drug, several killed pipeline assets, and no evidence of anywhere near an adequate return.
Assessment window: 5yr post-close.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanofi SA / Ablynx NV (this deal) | 2017 | $2.7B | 40 |
| Sanofi SA / Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | 2007 | $1.0B | 97 |
| Sanofi SA / Synthelabo S.A. | 1998 | $11.0B | 84 |
| Sanofi SA / Genzyme Corporation | 2011 | $20.1B | 84 |
| Sanofi SA / Amunix Pharmaceuticals Inc. | 2021 | $1.2B | 76 |
| Sanofi SA / Genzyme Corporation | 2010 | $18.5B | 75 |
| Sanofi SA / Translate Bio Inc. | 2018 | $805M | 73 |
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