LaNova Medicines Ltd.

Creative collage illustration of financial business. Two businessmen shaking hands for partners agreement. Conceptual illustration of success deal, corporate ethic, connection. iStock, Evorona Shanghai-based LaNova Medicines—which has captured the attention of some of the biggest Western pharmas—will be folded into fellow Chinese company Sino Biopharmaceutical in a deal worth up to $951 million. LaNova Medicines has been acquired by fellow Chinese biotech Sino Biopharmaceutical in a deal worth up to $951 million. In a Tuesday regulatory filing on the Hong Kong exchange, Sino—which already holds a 4.91% stake in LaNova—revealed that it will purchase the remaining 95.09% equity interest for a net payment of nearly $501 million. This sum excludes LaNova’s current estimated cash and bank deposits amounting to $450 million. Completion of this agreement is subject to certain conditions under Chinese law, including shareholder approval and relevant legal clearances. The transaction will close within 30 business days after all conditions have been met. In recent years, LaNova has captured the attention of some of the biggest players in the Western pharma market. In November last year, LaNova secured a $588 million upfront payment from Merck in exchange for global rights to its investigational bispecific antibody LM-299, being developed for solid tumors. Merck also pledged up to $2.7 billion in technology transfer, development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payable across several cancer targets. LM-299 is part of an emerging class of oncology therapies targeting both the PD-1 and VEGF pathways. This approach prevents tumors from evading the immune system’s anti-cancer activity and from forming new blood vessels to supply themselves with nutrients. Outside of Merck, LaNova has deals with other Western pharmas as well. In May 2023, the Shanghai-based biotech signed a partnership with AstraZeneca focused on the antibody-drug conjugate LM-305, a potentially first-in-class ADC targeting the GPRC5D protein, for multiple myeloma. The deal netted LaNova $55 million upfront and up to $545 million in milestones, plus tiered royalties. Sino’s acquisition of LaNova brings it a pipeline full of other ADCs and bispecific antibodies. Those include late-stage assets like LM-302, an ADC for gastric cancers, and LM-108, a monoclonal antibody against tumors with high microsatellite instability, both in Phase III trials. LaNova also has another eight molecules in preclinical, IND-enabling studies.

The LaNova deal comes shortly after Sino Biopharm let go of another antibody-focused platform, F-star Therapeutics.\n The PD-1xVEGF dealmaking wave that has captivated Western pharma companies is now surging within China.Tuesday, Sino Biopharmaceutical said it will pay up to $951 million to acquire Chinese compatriot LaNova Medicines, which has ongoing partnerships with Merck & Co. and AstraZeneca. Sino Biopharma is buying the remaining 95.09% stake it doesn’t already hold in LaNova after investing about $20 million to obtain a 4.91% interest in November. As the Shanghai biotech has about $450 million cash on its balance sheet, the net payment is about $501 million, according to a securities filing (PDF)LaNova became more widely known in November after Merck agreed to pay $588 million upfront and up to $2.7 billion in milestones for the biotech’s PD-1xVEGF bispecific antibody, LM-299, as a potential follow-on to the New Jersey pharma’s megablockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.Then fueling the PD-(L)1xVEGF fanfare, Pfizer  inked a $1.25 billion-upfront deal to license 3SBio’s PD-1xVEGF candidate SSGJ-707, and Bristol Myers Squibb pledged $3.5 billion upfront to co-develop and co-commercialize a PD-L11xVEGF bispecific by BioNTech. In all three transactions, the assets originated from Chinese companies.In a securities filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Sino Biopharm highlighted LaNova’s antibody platforms, with focuses on the tumor microenvironment, targeted antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and T-cell engagers. Besides LM-299, LaNova in 2023 licensed a GPRC5D-targeting ADC coded LM-305 to AstraZeneca in a deal potentially worth $600 million.The antibody specialist also comes with a CCR8 antibody that’s undergoing a phase 2 registrational trial in China, plus a Claudin 18.2 ADC that’s in phase 3 development in the country, Sino Biopharm noted in its filing. Sino Biopharm already holds Chinese rights to the CCR8 asset as part of its previous 4.91% equity investment (PDF) in LaNova.Other clinical candidates in LaNova’s pipeline include an anti-SIRPa antibody, a CTLA-4 tumor microenvironment-specific antibody, and two 4-1BB bispecifics separately targeting NaPi2b and CEACAM5, according to the company’s website.The LaNova deal comes shortly after Sino Biopharm let go of another antibody-focused platform, F-star Therapeutics. The U.K. biotech announced three months ago that it has become a private, independent company, about two years after Sino Biopharm subsidiary invoX Pharma bought the firm in a protracted acquisition scrutinized by U.S. foreign investment authorities. The Sino Biopharm-LaNova transaction can be viewed as another milestone in China’s biotech development history. While Chinese biotechs have been picked up in full-on acquisitions by foreign pharmas, such as AstraZeneca-Gracell Biotechnologies and BioNTech-Bioetheus, very few, if any, Chinese pharmas have bought out innovative domestic biotechs in the past.As one of the largest drugmakers in China, Sino Biopharm recorded 28.9 billion Chinese yuan (about $4 billion) in total 2024 revenue, with about 37% from oncology medicines. 

As interest ramps up in the PD-1/VEGF bispecific space, Sino Biopharmaceutical is taking full control of LaNova Medicines — the Chinese biotech behind a $3.3-billion cancer drug deal with Merck & Co. last year — by acquiring the remaining shares it doesn't already own in a deal worth up to $951 million.In a filing Tuesday with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Sino said it will purchase the remaining roughly 95.1% stake in LaNova, with a net payment of about $500.9 million after accounting for LaNova's estimated $450 million in cash and bank deposits. Sino bought a stake of about 4.9% in LaNova last year, paying around CNY 142 million ($19.8 million) at the time. The acquisition will make LaNova an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Sino.LaNova's crown jewel asset, LM-299, is a PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody that Merck licensed exclusive global rights to in November, paying $588 million upfront and committing up to $2.7 billion in milestone payments.  LM-299 employs a tetravalent IgG-VHH structure that modifies the Fc end of an anti-VEGF antibody into two nanobodies targeting PD-1, designed to enhance targeting specificity for both proteins. The asset is currently in Phase I testing in China.The emerging drug class has drawn some major investments already. Beyond Merck's deal with LaNova, Bristol Myers Squibb has committed over $11 billion for rights to co-develop BioNTech's BNT327, while Pfizer agreed to pay $1.25 billion upfront for ex-China rights to 3SBio's PD-1/VEGF bispecific SSGJ-707. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca is reportedly in advanced talks with Summit Therapeutics over a potential $15-billion tie-up for ivonescimab, another PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody — though those negotiations are still ongoing and may not result in a final deal.Aside from LM-299, LaNova's pipeline also includes LM-305, a GPRC5D-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) under development for multiple myeloma and licensed to AstraZeneca in 2023 for $600 million; LM-108, a potentially first-in-class CCR8-targeting monoclonal antibody currently in Phase II registrational trials in China, and that LaNova says could address resistance associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors; and LM-302, a Claudin 18.2 ADC currently in Phase III studies in China, with potential against gastric, pancreatic and biliary tract cancers.