BeOne cashes in its Imdelltra royalty

BeOne Medicines has traded the promise of its Amgen-partnered DLL3-targeting T-cell engager Imdelltra for near-term cash, selling its ex-China royalty stream to Royalty Pharma for $885m up front.

Royalty Pharma, meanwhile, is taking a gamble that Imdelltra sales will continue to accelerate. If that group’s prediction of $2.8bn 2035 revenues comes to pass, it will have justified its outlay. However, a lot will depend on Amgen moving Imdelltra into first-line small-cell lung cancer, and keeping ahead of the competition in DLL3.

2019 deal

According to Royalty, BeOne has around a 7% royalty on worldwide sales of Imdelltra, via a 2019 deal covering various approved drugs and pipeline projects. This agreement saw Amgen pay $2.7bn for a 20.5% stake in BeOne (then known as BeiGene), with BeOne contributing to R&D.

If Imdelltra does make $2.8bn, this would amount to a royalty of $196m.

However, it’s unclear exactly how much Royalty will get under the terms of the deal. The $885m up-front fee will give the group a “significant portion” of the royalties, according to a BeOne SEC filing. BeOne also has the option to sell Royalty an “additional portion” for another $65m.

And BeOne isn’t abandoning Imdelltra entirely. The group will share royalties on annual sales above $1.5bn, but more details weren’t disclosed. BeOne will also retain rights to the drug in China, where the Dellphi-307 trial could support approval.

Expanding

Imdelltra was granted FDA accelerated approval in May 2024 for second-line SCLC; since then, sales have been accelerating, and the drug looks likely to gain full approval, based on data from the confirmatory Dellphi-304 trial, presented at ASCO this year.

Imdelltra sales ($m)

Source: Company releases.

However, if the drug is to achieve its full potential it will need to move earlier, and Amgen has various front-line efforts ongoing, including the Dellphi-312 trial, which began this month.

And Imdelltra might not have the DLL3 space to itself for much longer. The most advanced competitor is Zai Lab, which plans to start a pivotal trial of its ADC, zocilurtatug pelitecan, this year – which it hopes will support accelerated approval in 2027.

Another DLL3 ADC, Jiangsu HenGrui/Ideaya’s SHR-4849 (IDE849) will feature at the upcoming World Lung meeting. Roche also licensed an ADC from Innovent for $80m up front in January; that project, now known as RG6810, is in phase 1 in Australia and China.

On the T-cell engager side, other contenders include Merck & Co, with gocatamig, a T-cell engager gained via the $680m acquisition of Harpoon, although the focus for that project now appears to be a combination with the Daiichi-partnered B7-H3-targeting ADC ifinatamab deruxtecan. Boehringer Ingelheim’s obrixtamig is in phase 2, while others are looking at DLL3 trispecifics.

Meanwhile, a Car-T project from Novartis and Legend will also have data at World Lung.

There are around 20 clinical-stage DLL3-targeting projects in development, according to OncologyPipeline. Royalty Pharma will hope that Imdelltra will keep an edge over its rivals, but BeOne is hedging its bets.