Oscotec, Inc.

In its second deal this week, Sanofi is spending $80 million upfront to license an Alzheimer’s drug candidate developed by the South Korean biotech ADEL. The French drugmaker will get global rights to ADEL-Y01, a monoclonal antibody designed to stop the buildup and spread of a toxic form of tau protein, which plays a key role in Alzheimer’s pathology. The pact could be worth up to $1.04 billion when factoring in milestones. ADEL is also eligible for tiered royalties ranging up to the double digits. ADEL has been advancing ADEL-Y01 with another South Korean biotech called Oscotec, which will be eligible for 47% of all the proceeds from the pact, according to Oscotec’s press release in Korean. The drug is currently in first-in-human development in the US. ADEL shared Phase 1a results at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease annual congress earlier this month. The buildup of toxic “tangles” of tau protein inside neurons is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. But many drug candidates that have targeted tau have ended up failing in mid-stage trials, including Johnson & Johnson’s posdinemab and UCB’s bepranemab . ADEL-Y01 targets a specific form of tau that is acetylated at a location called Lysine-280, ADEL said. The biotech hopes that by taking this more selective approach, it can slow disease progression while sparing other, healthy forms of tau that help neurons remain structurally stable. Sanofi’s ADEL pact follows a separate deal on Monday between the French drugmaker and California startup Dren Bio. Sanofi is paying $100 million upfront and up to $1.7 billion in milestones for rights to Dren’s unnamed B cell depleting therapy for autoimmune diseases. Also on Monday, Sanofi announced that its BTK inhibitor for multiple sclerosis called tolebrutinib flunked a Phase 3 trial in a severe form of MS and had its PDUFA date delayed for a different MS indication.

Seeking to scale its dementia pipeline beyond its newly-acquired asset from Vigil Neuroscience, Sanofi forged a licensing pact, potentially worth over $1 billion, securing exclusive global rights to develop and commercialise South Korean biotech ADEL’s investigational Alzheimer’s disease antibody and related backup candidates.The agreement announced Monday, focuses on ADEL-Y01, a humanised monoclonal antibody that selectively targets tau acetylated at lysine-280 (acK280), distinct from total-tau therapies — thereby blocking aggregation and spread of toxic tau species while sparing normal microtubule-associated tau.“ADEL's innovative approach to targeting tau acetylation offers a promising and differentiated mechanism for addressing the underlying causes of Alzheimer's disease,” explained Erik Wallstroem, global head of multiple sclerosis, neurology and gene therapy development at Sanofi.The transaction amounts to a total potential value of up to $1.04 billion, including an $80-million non-refundable upfront payment and potential milestone payments to ADEL, in addition to tiered sales royalties reaching the double-digit range.ADEL-Y01, discovered and developed preclinically by ADEL using its proprietary neural disease research platform, has been co-developed since 2020 through a joint research agreement with Oscotec. The asset is currently being investigated in a global Phase I study.Besides anti-amyloid therapies currently on the market and in development, there’s a growing interest in tau-targeting therapies for Alzheimer's disease. However, the latter have also been dented by development challenges, with major players like Biogen, AbbVie and Eli Lilly having scrapped some of their anti-tau programmes over lack of efficacy in the past. Joining them recently was Johnson and Johnson, which ended a mid-stage study investigating posdinemab in patients with mild Alzheimer's after failing to show “statistical significance in slowing clinical decline."

It\'s been a busy start to the week for Sanofi, with the French drugmaker inking its second biotech deal of the day.\n Sanofi is back with its second pact of the day, this time announcing a licensing deal for a South Korean biotech’s antibody therapy designed to treat Alzheimer\'s disease.The French pharma is paying Adel—a clinical-stage biotech based in Seoul—$80 million in cash, with the total deal potentially reaching up to $1.04 billion, plus royalties, according to a Dec. 15 release shared after market close.In return, Sanofi will gain exclusive global access to Adel’s antibody therapy coded ADEL-Y01, which holds first-in-class potential for Alzheimer\'s, according to the partners. Alongside the development and commercialization rights, Sanofi will also receive access to unnamed “related backup compounds.”The investigational asset ADEL-Y01 is a humanized monoclonal antibody designed to selectively target tau protein acetylated at lysine-280 (acK280). The protein tau plays a major role in Alzheimer\'s and other neurodegenerative conditions. ADEL-Y01 has been developed to stop the aggregation and spread of toxic tau, while saving the function of normal microtubule-associated tau.ADEL-Y01 stems from the biotech’s neural disease research and novel platform targeting tau modification. In 2020, Adel and South Korea-based pharma Oscotec started co-developing the asset.The antibody is currently being assessed in a global phase 1 trial. “Adel’s innovative approach to targeting tau acetylation offers a promising and differentiated mechanism for addressing the underlying causes of Alzheimer’s disease,” Erik Wallstroem, M.D., Ph.D., Sanofi’s global head of multiple sclerosis, neurology and gene therapy development, said in the release.“We look forward to advancing ADEL-Y01 through clinical development to provide new hope for patients living with this devastating condition,” Wallstroem added.Earlier in the day, Sanofi announced the expansion of its partnership with Dren Bio in a bid to discover and develop a potential next-generation B-cell depleting therapy for autoimmune diseases. A few days before, the pharma forged a new partnership with U.S. biotech InduPro Therapeutics, also related to autoimmune conditions.Also Monday, the French drugmaker stumbled in its efforts to achieve a new multiple sclerosis approval. The hopes center on the pharma’s investigational BTK inhibitor tolebrutinib in non-relapsing secondary progressive MS. The asset has been hit with an FDA delay, and a decision is now expected by the end of March 2026, Sanofi said in a release.  Adding to the BTK inhibitor\'s rough start to the week, Sanofi also shared that tolebrutinib missed the mark in a phase 3 study for primary progressive MS. The drugmaker said it will not be seeking regulatory approval for the drug in the indication.