Genentech, Seragon, Regeneron and Avalanche receive Allicense 2015 Breakthrough Award for Deals of the Year

The Intellectual Property and Science business of Thomson Reuters, the world's leading provider of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, recently honored Genentech Partnering and Seragon, and Regeneron and Avalanche with the Allicense 2015 Breakthrough Award for Deals of the Year.

The winners of this annual, industry-renowned award, Genentech Partnering and Seragon in the category of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), and Regeneron and Avalanche in Biopharmaceutical Licensing, were recently recognized by the biopharmaceutical community and Thomson Reuters at Allicense, a prominent event held annually in San Francisco that connects business development, licensing and M&A professionals throughout pharma, biotech and finance to discuss industry-wide challenges and collaborate on creating a roadmap for the future of pharmaceutical development.

Genentech Partnering, the buyer, and Seragon, the seller, were awarded the Allicense 2015 Breakthrough Award for M&A Deal of the Year for their $725 million deal around breast cancer therapies.

"We are honored to be the recipient of the Allicense 2015 Breakthrough Award for M&A Deal of the Year," said James Sabry, senior vice president and global head of Genentech Partnering. "We are always looking for transformative deals at Genentech, and our partnership with Seragon highlights our commitment to advancing next-generation therapies in oncology. We hope that this deal might one day re-define the standard of care for people with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer."

"We feel privileged and honored to receive this award in recognition of our partnership with Genentech," said Richard Heyman, chief executive officer of Seragon Pharmaceuticals. "The early success at Seragon in developing new therapeutics targeting estrogen-dependent cancers can now be accelerated and will benefit from the strong commitment and deep expertise that Genentech brings to the table in advancing new therapeutics in the oncology space, especially in developing new drugs for breast cancer. This most definitely will have a positive impact for the patient and will advance the development of these novel therapeutics."

Regeneron, the licensee, and Avalanche, the licensor, were awarded the Allicense 2015 Breakthrough Award for Biopharmaceutical Licensing Deal of the Year for their collaboration on gene therapy for ophthalmologic diseases.

"Regeneron is pleased to receive this recognition together with Avalanche for our collaboration to discover and develop gene therapies in ophthalmic diseases," said Michael Aberman, MD, senior vice president of strategy at Regeneron. "As a science-driven biotechnology company, we are committed to investing in innovative new approaches that have the potential to bring new hope to patients with a range of serious diseases."

"We are proud to collaborate with Regeneron, a leader in ophthalmology, and are honored to receive this award in recognition of our innovative partnership," said Hans P. Hull, J.D., senior vice president of business operations at Avalanche. "Our work together represents an exciting synergy between breakthrough developments of therapeutics and how those therapies are delivered for maximum patient benefit, which we believe will lead to true next-generation gene therapies for diseases of the eye that are currently undertreated or untreatable."

Thomson Reuters analysts used Thomson Reuters Recap—the premier analysis tool for biopharmaceutical business deal making—to examine hundreds of deals negotiated in 2014 to nominate five contenders in both award categories, backed by data in Cortellis Competitive Intelligence. The nominations were then put to a public vote by the biopharmaceutical community to accurately identify the most influential deals executed in 2014.

"We are pleased to honor Genentech, Seragon, Regeneron and Avalanche with the Allicense 2015 Breakthrough Award for Deals of the Year for their innovative approaches to deal-making and partnering, and to celebrate all of our nominees whose work has been instrumental in propelling the pharmaceutical industry forward," said Eric Walczykowski, vice president of Life Sciences at Thomson Reuters. "I am confident that the meaningful discussions at this event will help shape future deals and structures and look forward to seeing where this will take us at Allicense 2016."