Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) has agreed to acquire Amal Therapeutics, a private Swiss biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapies and therapeutics cancer vaccines, for a total transaction value of EUR 325 million ($365 million) consisting of upfront payments as well as contingent clinical, development, and regulatory milestones plus up to EUR 100 million ($112 million) if certain commercial milestones are met.

BI says it plans to develop new therapies by combining assets from its cancer immunology portfolio with Amal’s proprietary Kisima immunization platform. The platform enables the assembly of three functional components (a proprietary cell-penetrating peptide for antigen delivery, a proprietary toll-like receptor peptide agonist as an adjuvant, and a multi-antigenic cargo) that can be tailored for specific indications into one patented fusion protein used as a vaccine.

Amal’s lead vaccine, ATP128, is currently being developed for Stage IV colorectal cancer and is slated to begin first-in-human trials later in July 2019. ATP128 is a therapeutic chimeric recombinant protein vaccine designed using Kisima. The study will investigate ATP128 as a single agent and in combination with BI’s anti-PD1 compound, BI754091, using safety and tolerability as primary endpoints. The study will also measure anti-tumor activity and characteristics of the immune response as secondary and exploratory endpoints.

The deal with Amal further builds the company’s position in immune cell-directed therapies. In 2018, BI also acquired Vira Therapeutics and entered into a license agreement with OSE Immunotherapeutics for the SIRP-alpha targeting antibody.

Amal is headquartered on the medical campus of the University of Geneva, from which it was spun out in 2012, with financial backing from a syndicate of both corporate and institutional investors, including Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and High-Tech Gründerfonds as the initial seed investors.

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim