On October 27, 2020, Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapeutic compounds to treat disease through the inhibition of the complement system, announced a strategic collaboration with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi) to accelerate the advancement of systemic pegcetacoplan, a targeted C3 therapy, for the treatment of multiple rare diseases with high unmet need that impact more than 275,000 patients globally.
Under the agreement, Sobi will receive global co-development and exclusive ex-US commercialization rights for systemic pegcetacoplan. Apellis retains U.S. commercialization rights for systemic pegcetacoplan and worldwide commercial rights for ophthalmological pegcetacoplan, which is being evaluated by Apellis in two fully enrolled Phase 3 studies in geographic atrophy. Apellis and Sobi plan to jointly advance the clinical development of systemic pegcetacoplan in five parallel registrational programs across hematology, nephrology, and neurology. Sobi will make an upfront payment of $250 million to Apellis and $80 million in committed development reimbursements over four years, and up to $915 million in regulatory and commercial milestones plus tiered double-digit royalties.
The WilmerHale team representing Apellis was led by Steven Barrett and included Sarah Hogan and Mat Trachok.