There has been a significant decrease in R&D licensing and partnership activity from the previous quarter, dropping from $55.9 billion to $35.4 billion in Q1 2023.
Q1 2023 R&D Partnerships Set to Drive Growth
$35.4 billion in total R&D partnership deal values across 204 deals, which is lower in comparison to Q4 of 2022, both in amount, $55.9 billion, and the number of deals, 230. R&D partnerships were highest in Q4 of 2021 in the last five years, and it was $61.1 billion with 255 deals, whereas the highest number of R&D partnership deals were witnessed in Q2 of 2020, which were 360 at that time.
One billion down from Q4 of 2022, only $2 billion was transacted in total upfront cash and equity in R&D partnership deals in Q1 of 2023. Total upfront cash and equity through R&D partnership deals were highest in Q3 of 2022, i.e., $7.3 billion.
Partnership Deals of Q1 2023
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- HutchMed accepted $400M up front from Takeda for global development and commercialization rights, excluding China, Macao, and Hong Kong, for fruquintinib, a colorectal cancer treatment. The deal includes up to $730M in potential milestones and sales royalties. Fruquintinib has Fast Track designation in the US, and submissions in Europe and Japan are planned for 2023. This deal helps fund HutchMed’s re-focused pipeline and buys time for shares to recover. The Takeda-Nimbus deal for a Phase 2b TYK2 inhibiting plaque psoriasis drug in December 2022 was among the biggest single-asset deals of the last 15 years.
- Neurocrine Biosciences paid $136 million up front and $39 million in equity to acquire the global rights to a few CNS gene therapies from Voyager Therapeutics. This is the most significant early-stage licensing deal of 2023.
- On March 20, 2023, BioNTech (Nasdaq: BNTX) and OncoC4 revealed that they had formed a partnership through an exclusive global licensing and collaboration agreement to create and market OncoC4’s next-generation anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody candidate, ONC-392, as a single therapy or in conjunction with other therapies for different cancer indications. The deal is anticipated to conclude in the first half of 2023, subject to standard closing requirements and regulatory authorizations. OncoC4 is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that concentrates on discovering and producing innovative biologicals for cancer treatment.
