On July 24, 2024, Dren Bio, Inc., a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing antibody therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune, and other serious diseases, announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Novartis Pharma AG, a subsidiary of Novartis AG. The collaboration will focus on the discovery and development of therapeutic bispecific antibodies for cancer using Dren Bio’s proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati advised Dren Bio on the transaction.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dren Bio will receive a total upfront consideration of $150 million from Novartis, which includes a $25 million equity investment in the company. Dren Bio is also eligible to receive up to $2.85 billion in additional cash payments upon achieving certain preclinical, clinical, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties on future net sales of any commercialized products resulting from the collaboration.

The Wilson Sonsini team that advised Dren Bio included Norm Hovijitra, Kenneth Clark, Lance Brady, Miruna Predescu, Michael Hostetler, Tyler Kivley, Jacob Morales, James Reilly, Myra Sutanto Shen, Brandon King, Brendan Coffman, Kim Biagioli, Stephen Heifetz, Anne Seymour, Joshua Gruenspecht, and John Mao.

For more information, please see Dren Bio’s press release.