Alpine Immune Sciences has teamed up with Horizon Therapeutics to develop and commercialise up to four preclinical candidates for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

The targets include previously undisclosed multi-specific fusion protein-based therapeutic candidates from Alpine’s discovery platform.

The two companies have signed an agreement for licensing of a potential lead preclinical candidate, along with research collaboration for additional novel candidates.

Under the agreement, Horizon is expected to make an upfront payment of $25m, in addition to a $15m equity investment in Alpine.

Alpine is eligible to receive up to $381m per programme, or a total of around $1.52bn, in milestone payments, in addition to tiered royalties on net sales.

The collaboration is said to combine Alpine’s discovery platform and expertise with Horizon’s drug development and commercialisation capabilities.

Alpine is responsible for advancing candidates up to the pre-defined preclinical stage, followed by Horizon assuming development and marketing activities, and associated costs.

Alpine president and R&D head Stanford Peng said: “We are extremely pleased to enter into this collaboration with Horizon and look forward to working with its talented research and development team.

“With our combined expertise, we hope to accelerate and expand the potential clinical impact of our discovery platform on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.”

Alpine Immune Sciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing protein-based immune therapeutics.

The company has advanced research and development capabilities, a highly-productive scientific platform, and a proven management team.

It has a diverse pipeline of clinical and preclinical candidates in development and has collaborated with global biopharmaceutical companies, claimed Alpine.

Horizon is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialisation of medicines for rare, autoimmune and severe inflammatory diseases.

The company noted that it will not exclude collaboration-related upfront and milestone payments from its non-GAAP R&D expense, adjusted EBITDA and other non-GAAP financial measures.

Horizon research and development executive vice president Elizabeth HZ Thompson said: “This partnership represents an opportunity to advance our research efforts, moving our mechanistic insights into innovative molecules utilizing Alpine’s expertise and proven ability to design multi-specific protein-based immunotherapies.

“This collaboration will expand Horizon’s early pre-clinical pipeline with complementary mechanisms of action to our current clinical-stage therapeutics and provide our first pre-clinical, multi-specific development candidate.”

In February this year, Horizon agreed to acquire Maryland-based biotechnology firm Viela Bio for a fully diluted equity value of around $3.05bn.