Ahead of its acquisition by cancer imaging company Kuva Labs, Lisata Therapeutics has regained the Chinese rights to its lead solid tumor candidate from Qilu Pharmaceutical.
By bringing home certepetide, a cyclic peptide in midstage development for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Lisata shareholders are one step closer to snagging an extra $2 per share on top of the $4 per share that Kuva is paying for the New Jersey-based biotech. To finalize that pay bump, Kuva next needs to submit certepetide for approval in any country.
Qilu originally licensed certepetide in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in February 2021 from Cend Therapeutics, which later became Lisata through a merger with Caladrius Biosciences in 2022. The decision to now tear up the deal was mutual, Lisata said in a Jan. 27 release.
“We appreciate the collaboration and the work performed by Qilu with certepetide over the past few years,” Lisata President and CEO David Mazzo, Ph.D., said in the release. “As a result of this mutual termination, Lisata regains the full, exclusive rights to certepetide in the Greater China region.”
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Qilu is still responsible for finishing a phase 2 study that is testing the candidate in combination with the chemotherapy regimen gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel in patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, according to the release.
Kuva announced that it is acquiring Lisata on Jan. 21, after extensive prior experience with certepetide through a November 2024 pact to use the molecule with its own NanoMark platform to craft a new class of magnetic resonance tumor-detecting imaging agents.
The mutually shredded deal comes on the same day Qilu inked another, offering up to $120 million to Insilico Medicine for artificial intelligence aid in developing new cardiometabolic disease candidates. Insilico will use its Pharma.AI platform to design small molecules for as-of-yet undisclosed targets, after which Jinan, China-based Qilu will take over further development.