Sanofi boosts immunology pipeline via deal with Dren Bio

French pharma major Sanofi (Euronext: SAN) today revealed it has entered into a definitive agreement with privately-held US biotech Dren Bio, to acquire the latter’s DR-0201, a targeted bispecific myeloid cell engager (MCE) that has shown robust B-cell depletion in pre-clinical and early clinical studies.

DR-0201 is a potential first-in-class CD20-directed bispecific antibody that targets and engages specific tissue-resident and trafficking myeloid cells to induce deep B-cell depletion via targeted phagocytosis. Recent early clinical study data in autoimmune diseases suggest that deep B-cell depletion might have the potential to reset the adaptive immune system, leading to sustained treatment-free remission in patients with refractory B-cell mediated autoimmune diseases such as lupus, where significant unmet medical needs remain.

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