On Thursday, Summit, New Jersey-based Celgene Corporation announced plans to acquire Delinia for an upfront $300 million and an additional $475 million in milestone-based payments. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, a joint statement from the two companies said.
As recently as September 2016, Delinia was a fledgling autoimmune startup, launching with just four full-time staff and a $35 million Series A co-led by Sofinnova Partners and Atlas Venture.
Five months later it’s a very different story.
Autoimmune diseases occur when the immune system fails to distinguish between self-tissue and legitimate threats to the body, such as infectious bacteria or viruses.
Instead of suppressing the immune system — the standard approach — Delinia hopes to restore balance to the immune system by targeting the relationship between effector T-cells and regulatory T-cells (Tregs).
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Scientists have observed that infants born without Tregs (a condition known as IPEX Syndrome) rapidly develop a fatal multi-organ autoimmune disease, suggesting that the cells are critical for keeping effector T-cells in check.
Delinia’s lead candidate, DEL106, binds interleukin 2 (IL-2) receptors. The protein works to preferentially upregulate Tregs, helping the immune system police itself. With this approach, Del106 has the potential to treat a range of autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma.
On the other hand, Celgene is paying $300M out of the gates for a preclinical drug candidate and a handful of second-generation programs. It’s promising but very early stage.
“Delinia is at the forefront of advancing new approaches to treating patients with severe and debilitating autoimmune diseases,” said Rupert Vessey, president of research and early development at Celgene. “We look forward to progressing DEL106 into the clinic next year.”
Without data from human trials, there are a lot of variables to contend with. Autoimmune diseases, especially SLE, have defeated many investigational drugs. Eli Lilly knows this well.
On the other hand, diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis have given birth to some of the highest grossing pharmaceuticals to date (think AbbVie’s Humira or Biogen’s Tecfidera).
Either way, Delinia’s early investors Atlas Venture and Sofinnova Partners have booked in some solid returns in a matter of months.
Photo: digitalart, Free Digital Photos
