Gowling WLG's global Life Sciences team has advised Sosei Heptares on an agreement with new company Tempero Bio – a collaboration between Aditum Bio and Sosei Heptares – to advance treatments in neurological diseases.
The arrangement will provide Tempero Bio with in-licensed exclusive global rights to Sosei Heptares' mGlu5 negative allosteric modulator (NAM) programme, which is in Phase I studies. This programme focuses on developing therapies targeting substance use disorders and anxiety.
Under the agreement, Sosei Heptares will receive an upfront payment and strategic equity stake in Tempero Bio. It will also be eligible for future success-based development and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties from future product sales. Tempero Bio will gain a substantial data package, patents and proprietary know-how on the programme, alongside the global rights.
The Gowling WLG team worked with SVP Business Development at Sosei Heptares, Jim Taylor. Gowling WLG's head of life sciences, Patrick Duxbury and director Mathilda Davidson led on the licensing and collaboration agreement, while partner Ian Piggin advised on certain corporate aspects along with US advisers. The deal is the firm's second for Sosei Heptares in the past six months. The first relates to Sosei Heptares' global collaboration with AbbVie to target inflammatory diseases.
Patrick Duxbury said: "We have worked closely with Sosei Heptares over a number of years and we are pleased to have been able to support on this exciting new collaboration. Our understanding of the client's business and extensive experience in global licensing agreements, meant we were able to swiftly focus on the key issues and meet the objectives of all parties."
Sosei Heptares is an international biopharmaceutical group focused on the discovery and early development of new medicines originating from its proprietary GPCR-targeted StaR® technology and structure-based drug design platform capabilities. The group has established partnerships with some of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, including AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Genentech (Roche), Novartis, Pfizer and Takeda, and additionally with multiple emerging biotechnology companies.
Aditum Bio is a biotech investment firm co-founded in 2019 by former Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez and former President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) Dr. Mark Fishman. In partnership with TrialSpark, Aditum Bio uses data, software and technology to help advance innovative medicines through the clinical trial phase. Cooley LLP in the US advised the company on this latest deal.
Gowling WLG's global Life Sciences team combines extensive sector expertise with full-service capability. Its strong reputation in the market has seen it described as a "sterling commercial life sciences practice for complex licence, research and collaboration agreements" and gain recognition through awards, such as Patrick Duxbury's recent win at the LMG European Life Sciences Awards. Clients range from global pharmaceutical companies and leading research and academic bodies, to small private companies and start-up businesses.