Sanofi Terminates Sangamo Collaboration to Focus on Off-the-Shelf Genomic Medicines

Compiled by | Li Tom

Shortly after collaborating with Sangamo Therapeutics on personalized cell therapy, Sanofi has now decided to suspend this partnership deal and shift its research focus to allogeneic universal genomic medicine approaches.

The termination of the collaboration with Sangamo will take effect on June 28 this year, and Sanofi will return full control of the sickle cell disease candidate drug SAR445136 to Sangamo.

Notably, Sanofi and Sangamo Therapeutics also established SAR445136 as a competitor to Vertex in the target field last month and released data from four patients.

Trial data showed that none of the four patients who received SAR445136 required additional transfusions, and total hemoglobin remained relatively stable at 26 weeks after SAR445136 treatment. Additionally, fetal hemoglobin levels increased in all four patients, with no adverse events related to SAR445136 treatment observed.

But for now, Sanofi will exit this collaboration before providing the final dose data for its patients in the Phase 1/2 clinical trial by the third quarter of 2022.

Some analysts pointed out that the reason for Sanofi's withdrawal from the collaboration might be the intense competition in R&D among pharmaceutical companies within the narrow market of sickle cell disease. The methods adopted by Vertex, Graphite, Beam, and Bluebird all involve removing autologous cells from patients, editing them in the lab, and then reintroducing them into the patient’s body. Although Sangamo Therapeutics uses a different editing technique, the therapy is essentially autologous as well.

According to a report by Stifel analyst Benjamin Burnett, the disclosed research results so far seem to suggest that the therapy is slightly less effective than CRISPR’s treatment. Burnett speculated that even though the data indicates the therapy offers some clinical benefits, Sanofi may believe that obtaining future regulatory approval for the therapy could be challenging, ultimately leading the company to decide to terminate the collaboration.

In disclosing this news, Sangamo attributed the termination of the collaboration between the two companies to "Sanofi's change in strategic direction," stating that Sanofi will focus on allogeneic universal genomic medicine approaches in the future, rather than autologous personalized cell therapies.

Sanofi acquired Kiadis last year for up to $349 million, thereby gaining access to an allogeneic cell therapy platform. Kiadis’ proprietary K-NK cell technology platform is based on allogeneic NK cells derived from healthy donors. Upon completion of the acquisition, Sanofi will provide the necessary resources and capabilities to accelerate the development of Kiadis’ current product pipeline. This deal gives Sanofi ownership of a natural killer cell platform that can offer off-the-shelf treatments for cancer and infectious diseases.

However, Sangamo still has time and opportunities to secure more collaborations through SAR445136. Sanofi will continue to cover the costs of the ongoing sickle cell trial until the partnership officially concludes in June. Following the positive data released in December, which showed that the cell therapy could prevent vaso-occlusive crises, Sangamo plans to explore alternative options for advancing its candidate therapy in the future, including potentially seeking new partners.

Reference Source:

1.Sanofi tears up Sangamo cell therapy deal in pivot to off-the-shelf approaches

2.Sanofi’s overhaul of genomic medicines strategy spells end of Sangamo alliance

3.Sanofi cuts ties with Sangamo, sharpening focus on 'off-the-shelf' cell therapy