Goodwin Advises Alentis on Global Collaboration Agreement With CSL for $355 Million Upfront and Up to $1.2 Billion in Milestone Payments and Worldwide Profit Share

The Life Sciences team advised Alentis on entering a global partnership to develop and commercialize lixudebart for rare kidney and liver diseases with CSL, a leading global biopharma company. Under the agreement, CSL will make an initial payment to Alentis of $355 million, with Alentis eligible to receive up to an additional $1.2 billion in commercial milestone payments. In addition to these payments, CSL will fully fund the completion of the ongoing Phase 2 RENAL trial and planned Phase 3 trial in AAV-RPGN, the Phase 2 trials in FSGS and PSC, and other supporting development activities. Once commercialized, global profits will be shared 55% to CSL and 45% to Alentis.  

Alentis is a clinical-stage, privately held biotechnology company pioneering first-in-class antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting claudin-1 for fibrosis and oncology indications. Beyond the company’s lead antibody for fibrosis, lixudebart, Alentis is developing oncology candidates ALE.P02 and ALE.P03. These are claudin-1 targeted ADCs with a tubulin inhibitor payload and topoisomerase I inhibitor payload, respectively. ALE.P02 was granted Fast Track designation by FDA for the treatment of advanced or metastatic claudin-1 expressing squamous cancers, irrespective of the organ of origin. Both ADCs are currently in Phase 1/2 studies enrolling patients with a variety of solid tumor types.

The Goodwin team was led by Sarah Stoiber, Frank Qin, Kelly Song, and Kingsley Taft, and included Alan Wang, Dan Karelitz, Susan Lee, Paul Jin, Stephen Mavroghenis, Gabe Maldoff, Rob Masella, Sarah Solomon, Matt Wetzel, Hugh Rennie, Hyunseok Doh, Arom Yun, Alexandra Haas, Erika Pey, and Bonnee Nie.

For more information on the deal, please read the press release.