Alexion Licenses Halozyme Drug Delivery Technology in Deal Worth up to $680 Million

Rare Daily Staff

Alexion Pharmaceuticals entered into a licensing agreement valued at up to $680 million with Halozyme Therapeutics to use Halozyme’s ENHANZE drug-delivery technology that can permit intravenous delivered drugs to instead be administered as subcutaneous injections.
 
Under the terms of the agreement Alexion will pay Halozyme a $40 million upfront fee. It will also pay up to an additional $160 million for milestones, as well as royalties on sales, for each target developed. The agreement allows Alexion an exclusive development of up to four targets, including a next generation subcutaneous formulation of ALXN1210, the company’s investigational long-acting C5 complement inhibitor, to potentially extend the dosing interval of the experimental drug to once every two weeks or once per month.

“Alexion’s goal is to provide continued innovation and more treatment options that can significantly improve the lives of patients with rare diseases,” said John Orloff, executive vice president and head of research & development at Alexion. “We are excited to partner with Halozyme and look forward to utilizing its ENHANZE technology, which enables rapid injection of subcutaneous treatments and potentially increases bioavailablity, in our development programs.”

The Halozyme ENHANZE technology is based on a proprietary recombinant human enzyme that temporarily degrades a chain of natural sugars in the body to aid in the dispersion and absorption of injected therapeutic drugs. The technology may allow for more rapid delivery of injectable medications through subcutaneous injection.

The Alexion collaboration is Halozyme’s eighth global collaboration and license partner for the ENHANZE technology, and the third partnership formed in 2017. These partnerships cover nearly 50 therapeutic targets and include three commercialized products.

December 7, 2017

Photo: Helen Torley, CEO of Halozyme