Teva has announced a $400 million funding agreement with Blackstone Life Sciences to support the development of duvakitug, a monoclonal antibody being developed in partnership with Sanofi for inflammatory bowel diseases. The investment from Blackstone will be distributed over four years and is linked to regulatory and commercial milestones for duvakitug. Blackstone will also receive low single-digit royalties on global sales of the drug.
Duvakitug targets the TL1A cytokine to reduce inflammation and fibrosis in patients. In October 2023, Sanofi invested $500 million upfront for co-development and commercialization rights, with an additional $1 billion promised in potential milestone payments. Under their agreement, Sanofi will take over clinical development when duvakitug reaches Phase 3 trials.
Recent data from Teva's Phase 2b RELIEVE UCCD LTE study showed that after a combined induction and maintenance treatment period, 58% of ulcerative colitis patients and 55% of Crohn’s disease patients remained in clinical remission. Sanofi has launched late-stage STARSCAPE-1 (Crohn’s disease) and SUNSCAPE-1 (ulcerative colitis) studies, expected to complete in 2029 and 2028 respectively.
The funding deal between Teva and Blackstone reflects a growing trend of private equity involvement in biopharma. Kazi Helal, PitchBook Senior Biotech Analyst, described this as the “PE-ization of pharma” during an interview with BioSpace last July: “A lot of these folks are seeing opportunity now in biotech and distressed assets, and it’s hard to pass off,” Helal told BioSpace.
Private equity interest has increased as challenging market conditions have made biopharma companies more receptive to outside investment. For example, bluebird bio agreed to go private last year after financial difficulties, resulting in an acquisition by Carlyle and SK Capital Partners that valued the company at about $50 million. In June, Lexeo Therapeutics secured $40 million from Perceptive Xontogeny Venture Funds and venBio Partners to develop treatments for cardiac genetic diseases.
