June 16 Quick Takes: BioInvent gets $25M in mAb discovery deal with Exelixis

BioInvent International AB (SSE:BINV) granted  Exelixis Inc. (NASDAQ:EXEL) an option to license up to three programs against immuno-oncology targets to be identified by BioInvent under a target and antibody discovery deal. BioInvent will receive $25 million up front and will be eligible for undisclosed option exercise fees, development and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties. BioInvent’s n-CoDeR antibody library and F.I.R.S.T platform, which screens patients samples, enable parallel target and antibody discovery.

Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) is returning rights to KPT-350 to Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:KPTI), relinquishing an asset that was once a building block of its neurology pipeline. Biogen was developing the XPO1 inhibitor as BIIB1000 to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The company held its rights under a 2018 deal in which it paid Karyopharm $10 million up front. In ALS, Biogen is focusing on antisense therapy tofersen, which recently showed signs of efficacy in an open-label study...