Mainz, Germany-based BioNTech announced it was acquiring Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Neon Therapeutics in an all-stock deal valued at about $67 million.
Neon’s focus is on neoantigen therapies that have the potential to be both vaccines and T-cell therapeutics. Neoantigens are immune targets generated by mutations inherent in tumors. Its most advanced program is NEO-PTC-01, a personalized neoantigen-targeted T-cell therapy. It is derived of multiple T-cell populations that target the most relevant neoantigens from each patient’s cancer. The company is also working on a precision T-cell therapy program that targets shared neoantigens in specific, genetically defined patient populations. The lead program from that endeavor is NEO-STC-01, which targets shared RAS neoantigens.
Neon Therapeutics was founded in 2015 by Third Rock Ventures. The company was one of BioSpace’s NextGen Class of 2017 biotech startups to watch.
“This acquisition fits with our strategy to expand our capabilities and build our presence in the U.S. and further strengthens our immunotherapy pipeline,” said Ugur Sahin, co-founder and chief executive officer of BioNTech. “I am particularly excited about the adoptive T-cell and neoantigen TCR therapies being developed by Neon, which are complementary to our pipeline and our focus on solid tumors.”
Under the terms of the deal, after the acquisition Neon will merge with Endor Lights, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BioNTech incorporated in Delaware. It will then become a wholly-owned subsidiary of BioNTech. At the close of the deal, BioNTech will issue 0.063 American Depositary Shares (ADS) to Neon shareholders in exchange for each of their Neon shares. This exchange ratio implies a deal value of $67 million, or $2.19 per Neon share, based on BioNTech’s ADS closing price of $34.55 on Wednesday, January 15, 2020.
The deal has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors. It is expected to close in the second quarter of 2020.
BioNTech was founded in 2008 and focuses on personalized cancer treatments. Earlier this month the company announced publication in the journal Science data from preclinical research on its first-in-kind CAR-T cell therapeutic approach to solid tumors. The therapeutic, BNT211, is an autologous CAR-T cell therapy that targets the oncofetal antigen Claudin 6 (CLDN6). It is suggested that the company’s CARVac is a broadly applicable RNA vaccine.
CAR-T has been shown to be effective in blood cancers, but much more limited in solid tumors. BioNTech is focused on developing CAR-T therapies in multiple solid tumors in combination with an RNA vaccine.
In the published data, the therapy was studied in mice with human ovarian cancer transplants. In the research, CLDN6-CAR-T showed complete tumor regression of transplanted large human tumors within two weeks after treatment initiation. The combination with CARVac improved engraftment, proliferation and CAR-T cell expansion, all of which is promising for human studies, which the company plans to launch this year, with ovarian, testicular, uterine and lung cancer.
Of the merger with BioNTech, Hugh O’Dowd, chief executive officer of Neon, said, “We are very proud of all we have accomplished since we founded Neon and look forward to joining forces with BioNTech to continue to build a business that provides life-changing immunotherapy products to patients battling a variety of cancers.”
