Contingent on milestones, Queen’s University spin-out Re-Vana Therapeutics’ strategic collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim is worth $1bn.
Queen’s University Belfast spin-out Re-Vana Therapeutics has agreed a deal with biopharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim that aims to develop first-in-class extended-release therapies for eye diseases, and could be worth up to $1bn.
Ophthalmic diseases often require frequent injections directly into the eye, an off-putting treatment for many patients. Re-Vana’s drug delivery technology is designed to release treatments slowly over six to 12 months, with the aim of drastically reducing how often patients need injections.
It is hoped that lowering the treatment burden could lead to higher treatment compliance, and potentially result in better therapeutic outcomes. Boehringer Ingelheim says it wishes to explore combining this technology with its own extensive pipeline in eye health which includes four assets in Phase II.
“The strategic collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim marks a transformational moment for Re-Vana,” said Michael O’Rourke, Re-Vana CEO. “By combining our extended-release platform with Boehringer Ingelheim’s world-class research and development capabilities and eye health pipeline, we strive to bring forward a new generation of long-acting treatments for eye diseases that offer clinical and quality-of-life benefits for patients.”
“We’re looking forward to team up with Re-Vana to push the boundaries of what’s possible in eye health,” said Nedim Pipic, global head of Mental Health, Eye Health and Emerging Areas at Boehringer Ingelheim.
The collaboration will see Boehringer Ingelheim add up to three projects per year, and while the companies will jointly oversee Re-Vana’s feasibility and development activities for the extended-release programs, Boehringer Ingelheim will be responsible for clinical development, regulatory approval, and global commercialisation of resulting products.
Boehringer Ingelheim says the deal provides for upfront, development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments to Re-Vana, with the deal worth a potential $1bn for the initial three targets, as well as royalty payments on net sales.
Founded in 2016 as a spin-out from Queen’s University Belfast, Re-Vana is an ocular therapeutics and ocular drug delivery company based in Belfast and a wholly owned subsidiary of Re-Vana Holding, Tampa, Florida. Backers include US investors ExSight Ventures and InFocus Capital Partners, while UK investors include QUBIS, TechStart Ventures, Invest Northern Ireland and Clarendon Fund Managers. Re-Vana is currently in the process of raising a Series B round for their sustained release anti-VEGF product.
Boehringer Ingelheim is a biopharmaceutical company active in both human and animal health with over 54,000 employees and active in 130 markets.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.