Aqilion's licensing journey: From Merck partnership to new opportunities
Av When Aqilion's licensing collaboration with Merck was announced in February 2023, many eyebrows were raised. The small Helsingborg-based company had secured an agreement that gave them 10 million euros upfront – and the potential for a total of 950 million euros plus royalties if their still preclinical project reached all the way to patients.
“It was a fantastic deal that we were proud of”, Sarah Fredriksson tells Life Science Sweden.
The process to finalise the deal began several years earlier. Aqilion had early on settled on a business idea where out-licensing or selling projects was part of the strategy and financing.
The company had an employee early on who worked full-time with external partners, both to secure an out-licensing deal and to steer the current project, Tak-1, in a direction that could attract potential future partners. The objective is to develope a new treatment for severe diseases caused by chronic inflammation and dysfunctional immune reactions.
Dialogue with major pharmaceutical companies began early, and the project was presented at several major partnering meetings over several years.
“You have to start early. First, you need to meet the right people, then you need to get them interested, let them look at some data to build trust. Two years before we received an offer, we had met all the major pharmaceutical companies more than once and told them about our project, and several of them were interested and followed us.”
In the end, it was Merck that showed the most interest and made a tentative offer, but it was still a long way from a finalized agreement. The German company scrutinized Aqilion's data closely before concrete negotiations began. It took nearly six months before the agreement was signed.
The agreement gave Merck full access to Aqilion's molecules, while a development collaboration was initiated that also provided payments to the Swedish biotech company.
In total, the agreement had given Aqilion nearly 130 million SEK when, last summer, they received disappointing news: Merck had decided to return the program.
“It wasn't because our program was bad, but for various reasons, it wasn't strategically right for them”, says Sarah Fredriksson.
She felt "extreme disappointment" when the news came, but also says that she now, with some distance, sees things more positively.
The deal has contributed to the financing of the company's main program, a drug candidate being evaluated in clinical phase as a potential treatment for eosinophilic esophagitis, an inflammation of the esophagus.
The licensing agreement also brought Aqilion international attention. In an article on the industry site Endpoint News, the deal was placed on the top 20 list worldwide for early deals in 2023.
– And it was a small Swedish biotech that did it. So now, after six months, I've decided that I'm quite proud of that deal after all.
We believe that there are still great opportunities with this program
Additionally, they have recently reached an agreement with Merck that when Aqilion reclaims the project, they also receive the research and data that the German company added. In the beginning of February it was announced that development within the program will resume.
– We believe that there are still great opportunities with this program. Now we will refine it and show more clearly in which disease we believe it has the greatest potential. Then we will probably try to find a new partner.
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