Parabilis Medicines, Regeneron Partner to Advance Novel Antibody-Helicon Conjugates

Parabilis Medicines has entered a strategic research collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. to discover and develop multiple therapeutic candidates based on Parabilis’s Helicon peptide platform, with a particular focus on Antibody-Helicon Conjugates (AHCs), a novel class of therapeutics designed to target challenging and historically “undruggable” targets.

Helicons are stabilized, cell-penetrant alpha-helical peptides engineered to reach intracellular protein targets, including flat binding surfaces that are often poorly addressed by traditional small molecules. Through this collaboration, the parties will explore Helicons both as stand-alone therapies and as payloads in AHCs.

Traditional antibody-drug conjugates use antibodies to deliver therapeutic payloads selectively into target cells. AHCs apply the same core concept, combining antibody-guided delivery with Helicon payloads designed to selectively modulate intracellular proteins, including targets that have long been considered undruggable.

“Through our own pipeline, we have demonstrated the potential of Helicon peptides to directly inhibit or degrade several disease-driving proteins in oncology that have long been considered out of reach,” said Mathai Mammen, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman, CEO and President of Parabilis Medicines. “We are thrilled to enter into a collaboration with Regeneron that builds on this foundation, combining the intracellular access and binding capabilities of our Helicons against challenging targets with antibodies from Regeneron.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Parabilis is to receive $125 million from Regeneron in the form of a $50 million upfront payment and a commitment to invest $75 million in Parabilis’s next equity financing, subject to certain conditions. Parabilis is also eligible to receive milestone payments for development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties up to the low double digits on future net sales of any approved medicines resulting from the collaboration. With five initial targets, the agreement provides the potential for up to approximately $2.2 billion in total milestone payments to Parabilis. Under the terms of the agreement, additional targets may be pursued upon additional option payments from Regeneron.

The agreement provides for the parties to collaborate to discover new Helicons and AHCs, which Regeneron will then be responsible for advancing through development, manufacturing and worldwide commercialization.

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