Innate Pharma and Novo Nordisk announce strategic partnership

French biopharmaceutical company Innate Pharma and Danish global healthcare company Novo Nordisk have entered into a major partnership to develop new drugs targeting natural killer (NK) cells, one of the body's first lines of defence against cancer and infections. As part of the agreement Novo Nordisk will invest Euro 10m in new Innate Pharma equity.

Having already collaborated on an initial project for three years, the partners have established competitive and complementary competences in this area of immunology, which effectively advanced one project through research and preclinical development. By now combining forces on a broader scale, the partnership will strive to build a portfolio of new drug candidates in the area, originating from their own research or by further in-licensing from third parties.

According to the agreement, the companies will collaborate for at least the next three years to develop new molecules - chiefly antibodies - that stimulate or inhibit NK cell activity. Although the partnership covers all therapeutic indications, drug candidates will be developed primarily in cancer, autoimmune disorders and infections. This collaboration will seek to bring drug candidates through preclinical trials, at which point Novo Nordisk will have the main responsibility for clinical development and regulatory approval.

Both companies will contribute intellectual property rights, expertise and r&d personnel in the NK cell field on an exclusive basis. At least 40 full-time employees evenly split between the two companies will be dedicated to the partnership. Novo Nordisk will be the exclusive licensee of all drug candidates developed under the agreement, although Innate Pharma, under certain conditions, will retain some rights to specific niche indications.

For its contribution, Innate Pharma will receive approximately €25m in a combination of an upfront payment, r&d funding and preclinical milestone payments during the three-year period. It will also be eligible for remuneration of developmental and regulatory milestones, as well as to royalties on future product sales. Novo Nordisk, already a minority shareholder in Innate Pharma, will also invest €10m in new Innate Pharma equity, increasing its stake in Innate Pharma to around 20%.

"The expansion of our partnership to include a new group of targets underscores Novo Nordisk's beliefs in the promise of NK-receptor biology and is a natural consequence of our successful collaboration with Innate Pharma," said Terje Kalland, senior vice president, head of biopharmaceuticals research unit, Novo Nordisk.