Novartis is paying $50 million upfront to license a peptide-based radiopharmaceutical asset from China-headquartered Zonsen PepLib Biotech.
The Monday
release
did not name the candidate, its target or what stage of development it is in. What is known is that PepLib, founded in 2017, is focused on developing peptide-based therapies, including peptide-radionuclide conjugates. The biotech’s preclinical
pipeline includes a “radiopharmaceutical carrier” program at the lead-optimization
stage.
Novartis will be responsible for developing and commercializing the licensed candidate. PepLib could get an undisclosed amount in milestones as well as tiered royalties on future sales.
The deal should “complement” Novartis’ existing portfolio of radioligand therapies (RLTs), according to the release.
The Swiss drugmaker is currently a market leader in RLTs due to Pluvicto for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and Lutathera for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. The two assets together pulled almost
$800 million
in third-quarter sales last year.
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In its clinical RLT pipeline, Novartis is advancing a lutetium-based candidate targeting GRPR and a separate program targeting FAP, among others.
The company has been ramping up its capabilities in the space,
opening
its third US-based RLT manufacturing site in November. Last week, it
unveiled plans
to build a fourth factory in Florida.
In November, Novartis signed a
licensing pact
with Ratio Therapeutics for its SSTR2-targeting radiopharmaceutical program. In 2024, it acquired radiopharmaceutical startup Mariana Oncology for
$1 billion upfront
.
In a separate announcement on Monday, Novartis
licensed a preclinical candidate
for Alzheimer’s disease from SciNeuro for $165 million upfront. In December, it teamed up with London-based biotech Relation to
discover new drugs
for immune diseases with the help of AI.