C4X Discovery inks lucrative C4XD oral IL-17A inhibitor deal

Shares of UK-based biotech C4X Discovery (AIM: C4XD) were up 16% at 46.40 pence in early trading, as the company revealed it has signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Sanofi (Euronext: SAN), for C4XD’s oral pre-clinical interleukin (IL)-17A inhibitor program.

Under the terms of the accord, which is worth up to 414 million euros ($492 million), C4XD will receive an upfront payment of 7 million euros and could receive up to a further 407 million euros in potential development, regulatory and commercialization milestones, of which 11 million euros is in pre-clinical milestones, in addition to single digit royalties.

Under the license, Sanofi will develop and commercialize an oral therapy for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, a multi-billion-dollar market. The IL-17 family of cytokines are strong inducers of inflammation and are implicated in a variety of autoimmune diseases including psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. Current treatments targeting IL-17 are monoclonal antibodies administered via an injection. There is an urgent need for safe and efficacious oral small molecule therapies to increase the number of patients able to access IL-17 targeted drugs and expand availability into new inflammatory disease indications.