PTC Therapeutics has struck a deal to buy Sangamo Therapeutics’ Fabry disease program for $111 million upfront, outbidding Astellas and TerSera Therapeutics for the near-approval gene therapy. Sangamo, selling assets as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, also offloaded technology to Eli Lilly for $50 million.
Sangamo named Astellas as the stalking horse bidder for its Fabry disease program, ST-920, in June. At that time, the biotech proposed (PDF) selling the Fabry program to Astellas for $25 million upfront and up to $25 million in milestones. Sangamo arranged an auction for Aug. 10 to give other companies a chance to outbid Astellas. PTC won the auction after concluding ST-920 will slot neatly into its business.
“We really believe that we have the capability to really just set this in with the existing infrastructure,” PTC CEO Matthew Klein, M.D., said on a conference call with investors to discuss the deal.
“This is what made this a pretty special opportunity for us,” Klein added. “We have existing capacity, existing expertise—and this is something that we could set into what we have without any significant build needed.”
PTC landed the Fabry gene therapy for $111 million in upfront cash and up to $100 million in milestones. Each figure is at least four times the stalking horse price Sangamo agreed with Astellas.
The auction took over two days, Klein said, giving an indication of “how competitive it was and how much interest there was in this asset.” Sangamo named TerSera as the backup bidder for its Fabry assets.
The deal is set to close by early in the fourth quarter. PTC will pay an $80 million milestone if ST-920, also called isaralgagene civaparvovec, wins accelerated FDA approval and the remaining $20 million upon full approval of the gene therapy.
Sangamo started a rolling submission for accelerated approval of ST-920 in December. With Sangamo having already submitted the nonclinical and clinical modules, PTC expects to complete the rolling filing in the fourth quarter by delivering the chemistry, manufacturing and controls package to the FDA. PTC also plans to pursue approvals outside the U.S.
While PTC had to fight off multiple bidders for the Fabry gene therapy, Lilly faced no competition for Sangamo’s capsid delivery, zinc finger and MINT platforms, as well as the prion disease program, ST-506. Lilly was the stalking horse bidder for the assets and, with Sangamo receiving no other qualified bids, landed the platforms and program for the pre-agreed $50 million purchase price.