Three new partnerships that could be worth over $1B

Beyond the headline news of Lundbeck’s proposal to buy Longboard for $2.6 billion, the past seven days brought at least three new partnerships that could be worth over $1 billion.

For a $30 million upfront payment and a $20 million equity investment,  Astellas Pharma Inc. (Tokyo:4503) gained an option to AAV gene therapy AVB-101 from AviadoBio Ltd. The treatment is in Phase I/II trials for frontotemporal dementia with GRN mutations, a rare disease affecting lysosomal function. AVB-101 increases expression of the GRN gene product PGRN, and is injected into the thalamus, from which it gets transported to broadly through cortical brain regions. AviadoBio is eligible for an additional $2.18 billion in license fees and milestones...