Bankrupt Sangamo offloads assets to Lilly, PTC in $161M sale

 

PTC Therapeutics emerged as the winning bidder over Astellas for Sangamo Therapeutics’ Fabry disease gene therapy, while Eli Lilly is purchasing the biotech’s prion disease program and several platforms.

Amid the throes of bankruptcy, Sangamo Therapeutics has agreed to divest its Fabry disease program and a clutch of other assets and technologies to PTC Therapeutics and Eli Lilly.

Following a court-approved bidding process, Sangamo will sell its investigational Fabry disease gene therapy isaralgagene civaparvovec to PTC for $111 million at closing, as well as up to $100 million in potential milestone payments. Lilly, meanwhile, will pay $50 million for Sangamo’s zinc finger, capsid delivery and molecular integrase platforms, as well as the biotech’s prion disease program, according to a Wednesday release.

Other bidders are also buying select Sangamo tools and equipment for a collective $2.55 million.

These asset sales are still subject to a final court approval, but once closed, Sangamo is looking at around $163.55 million, plus up to $100 million in future milestones. The confirmation hearing for these deals is slated for the third quarter.

“Any proceeds ultimately received from the asset sales will be administered and distributed in accordance with the Chapter 11 process and applicable orders of the Bankruptcy Court,” a Sangamo spokesperson told BioSpace in an email on Wednesday.

In early June, Sangamo kicked off a strategic evaluation of its business, which resulted in a voluntary bankruptcy petition a few weeks later. Sangamo at the time also announced that it had agreed to sell its prion program and select technologies to Lilly, while Astellas had emerged as a potential buyer for the Fabry asset. It is unclear why the Astellas agreement fell through, but PTC has now been named the winning bidder for the rare disease program.

Following its initial bankruptcy announcement in June, Sangamo said that it would downsize by around 40%, a cut that affected 51 employees. “Beyond those actions, Sangamo has not announced any additional workforce reductions related to the proposed transactions with PTC Therapeutics and Lilly,” the spokesperson told BioSpace.

Isaralgagene civaparvovec is an investigational gene therapy that uses an adeno-associated viral vector to deliver a DNA construct that encodes for the alpha-galactosidase enzyme, according to Sangamo’s website. In patients with Fabry, mutations to the GLA gene lead to deficiencies in alpha-galactosidase activity, resulting in the toxic buildup of certain byproducts in tissues across the body, giving rise to symptoms such as numbness, pain, hearing loss and swelling.

Phase 1/2 data demonstrated improved kidney function, cardiac function and quality of life in patients dosed with the gene therapy. There is an ongoing rolling biologics license application filing with the FDA, which is planned for completion in the fourth quarter, according to PTC’s announcement of its agreement with Sangamo.

Meanwhile, Sangamo’s prion program, which is still in preclinical development, uses zinc fingers to protect neurons from misfolded prion proteins, in turn slowing or halting neurodegeneration, the biotech said on its website.

https://www.biospace.com/deals/bankrupt-sangamo-offloads-assets-to-lilly-ptc-in-161m-sale