CSL teams up with Swiss Alentis for kidney and liver drug in A$2B deal

CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) has announced it’s teaming up with Basel-headquartered Alentis Therapeutics to ‘co-develop’ a drug to treat rare liver and kidney disease.

It will be interesting to see how the market reacts – while this is a large move from CSL Ltd at a time when the stock has been recovering from recent lows of A$90/sh, there are reasons investors may be nervous.

That might be because CSL is to pay Alentis US$355M (A$510M) – in other words, half a billion dollars – with a further US$1.2B payable if certain commercial milestones are met.

That’s over A$2bn Australian dollars. Perhaps because of that, it’s one of the most hotly watched announcements on the HotCopper boards on Monday.

“Once commercialised, global profits will be shared 55 per cent to CSL and 45 per cent to Alentis,” CSL wrote on Monday.

The drug in question, called lixudebart, CSL described as a “potential first-in-class treatment.” The drug is the subject of an ongoing Phase 2 trial to treat an autoimmune disease that ultimately shuts down the kidney.

“We believe lixudebart has the potential to become an important new therapeutic option to help improve kidney function and prevent progression to end-stage kidney disease,” CSL Ltd’s Head of R&D Dr. Bill Mezzanotte said.

“Our collaboration with Alentis reflects CSL’s commitment to building a leading global nephrology franchise, and our strategic intent to create high-value external partnerships.”

The company added: “CSL and Alentis plan to advance lixudebart as a potential treatment for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a chronic kidney disease, and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), a chronic liver disease for which there is currently no available therapy.”

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