Sanofi Transfers Late-Drugs to New Neuro and Psychedelic Biotech Startup

Sanofi has partnered with Terran Biosciences, a small New York biotech, to work on two late-stage neurological and psychiatric drugs. This is the second such investment into the otherwise low profile startup, following a deal last month with Concert Pharmaceuticals. Terran, which focuses on neuro and psychedelics, is not the first example of a larger pharma company offloading projects to smaller firms.

According to Max Gelman of Endpoints News, “Usually, when such a deal occurs, the bigger company spins out assets in smaller, one-off licensing deals. Rarely, a big spinout takes place, such as Pfizer’s sale of its defunct neuroscience pipeline of the Tony Coles-led Cerevel Therapeutics. There are also instances of Big Pharma selling off failed drugs to biotechs that want to give them a second chance, and the track record here is mixed. One recent success had been Sierra Oncology’s turnaround of momelotinib, paying Gilead $3 million to buy it and then getting scooped up in a $1.9 billion buyout from GlaxoSmithKline.”

To read more, click here.

(Source: Endpoints News April 21^st, 2022)