Hong Kong-based InnoCare Pharma announced that Biogen has elected to terminate a deal involving orelabrutinib, an oral small molecule Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor being studied as a potential treatment for multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.
Back in July 2021, Biogen handed InnoCare an upfront payment of $125 million for ex-China rights to InnoCare's covalent BTKi with high selectivity and the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier. The drug was being studied in a multi-country, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial in relapsing-remitting MS.
Now, InnoCare will regain all global rights to the drug, which it says has shown "encouraging clinical outcomes from multiple autoimmune trials." The company expects to publish results from the interim analysis of its ongoing phase 2 MS study in the second quarter of 2023.
The partners will collaborate to complete the transition within 90 days.
