PureTech cites Big Pharma tech partnerships as 2018 highlights

PureTech Health says delivery technology deal with Roche was key part of its financial performance in 2018.

The US biotech made the comments last week. It explained that its revenue growth for the year – $20.7 million (€18.5 million), up from $2.5 million in 2017 – was due in part to the Roche accord inked last July.

CEO Daphne Zohar also predicted the deal will shape future performance.

Image: iStock/sudok1

“We are now engaged in collaborative research with Roche to advance our milk-derived exosome technology.

“PureTech Health receives up to $36 million in upfront fees, R&D support and early preclinical payments; total payments in development milestones could exceed $1 billion,” she said.

The firm is also entitled to sales royalties.

Boeh selecta

The results presentation comes a few weeks after PureTech teamed up with privately-owned German drug developer Boehringer Ingelheim.

The partnership, announced on April 16, will see Boehringer apply PureTech’s lymphatic targeting system to its immune-oncology drugs.

Puretech will earn $26 million in fees, research support and preclinical payments. The firm is also entitled to $200 million in development milestones and sales royalties.

Spokesperson Allison Mead Talbot told us: “PureTech Health is developing a lymphatic targeting approach that uses the body’s natural lipid transport mechanisms to substantially enhance the transport of orally-administered drugs into the lymphatic system. This proprietary platform achieves this by reversibly attaching a dietary fat to the drug of interest via a linker optimized to release the drug at the site of interest.

“Once product candidates enter the development stage, Boehringer Ingelheim will assume full responsibility for development and PureTech Health will be eligible for various developmental and sales milestones in addition to royalties on product sales. We have not disclosed timelines or further milestones,” Mead Talbot said.

Affiliates

Collaborations were also highlights for PureTech’s affiliates in 2018.

Vedanta Biosciences – PureTech’s ‘bugs into drugs’ outfit – teamed up with Bristol-Myers Squibb in December. BMS will test a combination of its PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor Opdivo (nivolumab) and bacteria selected by Vedanta as a treatment for cancer.

Likewise Alvio Therapeutics –which looks at inflammatory diseases – is working with Purdue Pharma on an interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) treatment.

Also, in March this year, Akili, PureTech’s cognitive disease affiliate, teamed up with Shionogi & Co. The plan is to commercialize two of Akili’s candidates in Japan and Taiwan.

The candidates are AKL-T01, which is under review in the US for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and AKL- T02, which is in late-stage trials as a treatment for cognitive function and related symptoms in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).