Innate Pharma announces HSR clearance regarding expansion of its collaboration with Sanofi on NK cell engagers

• Following expiration of Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period regarding expansion of their collaboration on NK cell engagers, the licensing agreement between Sanofi and Innate is now effective.

Innate Pharma SA (Euronext Paris: IPH; Nasdaq: IPHA) (“Innate” or the “Company”) announced today the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 with respect to the previously announced expansion of its collaboration with Sanofi. The licensing agreement is now effective.

As announced on December 19, 2022, Sanofi is licensing a Natural Killer (NK) cell engager program targeting B7H3 from Innate’s ANKET^® (Antibody-based NK Cell Engager Therapeutics) platform. Sanofi will also have the option to add up to two additional ANKET^® targets. Upon candidate selection, Sanofi will be responsible for all development, manufacturing and commercialization. Under the terms of the agreement, Innate will receive €25m upfront payment and up to €1.35bn total in preclinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones plus royalties on potential net sales. 

About ANKET^®

ANKET^® (Antibody-based NK cell Engager Therapeutics) is Innate's proprietary platform for developing next-generation, multi-specific natural killer (NK) cell engagers to treat certain types of cancer.

This versatile, fit-for-purpose technology is creating an entirely new class of molecules to induce synthetic immunity against cancer. It leverages the advantages of harnessing NK cell effector functions against cancer cells and also provides proliferation and activation signals targeted to NK cells.

Our latest innovation, the tetra-specific ANKET molecule, is the first NK cell engager technology to engage activating receptors (NKp46 and CD16), a tumor antigen and an interleukin-2 receptor (via an IL-2 variant, IL-2v) via a single molecule.