C4X Discovery signs licensing deal with Sanofi worth up to $492 mln (updated)

C4X Discovery Holdings

12/04/2021 08:14

(Adds deal details, share price)
    April 12 (Reuters) - Drug developer C4X Discovery  C4XD.L 
said on Monday it has signed an exclusive licensing deal worth
up to 414 million euros ($492.12 million) with French drugmaker
Sanofi  SASY.PA  to develop an oral therapy for the treatment of
inflammatory diseases.
    C4X shares surged 30% in early trade following the news.
    A unit of the London-listed company will get an upfront
payment of 7 million euros and receive up to a further 407
million euros for potential development, regulatory and
commercialisation milestones.
    The deal is for C4X's oral pre-clinical IL-17A inhibitor
programme and under the license Sanofi will develop and
commercialize an oral therapy treatment.
    IL-17 family of cytokines, or inflammatory proteins, are
implicated in various autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis and
psoriatic arthritis.
    "While antibody therapies have demonstrated the potential of
IL-17 inhibition ... the injectable route means many patients
currently do not have access to the medicines that can change
their lives," Chief Executive Officer Clive Dix said.

 ($1 = 0.8413 euros)

 (Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak
Dasgupta)
 ((Yadarisa.Shabong@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/Yadarisa;
 +919742735150))