Immune Design, Sanofi in food allergy deal
Immune Design Corp. (NASDAQ:IMDZ) granted Sanofi (Euronext:SAN; NYSE:SNY) exclusive rights to discover, develop and commercialize products to treat an undisclosed food allergy using Immune Design's GLAAS TLR4 agonism discovery platform. Immune Design received an undisclosed upfront payment and will be eligible for up to $168 million in development and commercialization milestones, plus tiered royalties.
Immune Design told BioCentury the deal is an "outgrowth" of the companies' existing 2011 deal to investigate the use of glucopyranosyl lipid A (GLA) for allergies, but said that they are separate transactions. Although the 2011 deal covers food allergies, the companies have not disclosed the specific scope of that deal. GLAAS uses a synthetic GLA adjuvant system to activate dendritic cells (see BioCentury Extra, Oct. 26, 2011). ...