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Sun Pharma is acquiring Nasdaq-listed Checkpoint Therapeutics for $355 million.
The deets: Checkpoint specializes in cancer immunotherapy and recently secured FDA approval for UNLOXCYT, a breakthrough drug for advanced skin cancer (cSCC).
It’s the only FDA-approved therapy that targets PD-L1, helping the immune system fight cancer when it has spread or can’t be removed with surgery.
With 1.8 million cSCC cases annually in the U.S., and 15,000 deaths each year, the drug has massive potential.
Worth noting: Checkpoint pulled in just $40,000 in revenue in the first nine months of 2024, reporting a $27.3 million net loss. But Sun Pharma wants to bet big on the future of immunotherapy.
Some backstory: in 2023, Sun Pharma had acquired Concert Pharma for $576 million. This deal was for Sun's dermatology portfolio, and the latest acquisition aligns with the previous move.
Big picture: Sun Pharma is already India’s largest drugmaker, and it’s making a serious push into cancer immunotherapy, a market set to more than double in India, growing from $2 billion in 2022 to $4.4 billion by 2030.
And there’s more: Sun Pharma, Checkpoint, and Fortress Biotech (Checkpoint’s parent company) have struck a royalty deal—meaning Fortress will get a cut from future sales of another immunotherapy drug, Cosibelimab.
But access remains a challenge—less than 3% of cancer patients in India currently have access to immunotherapy due to high costs.
Sun Pharma’s latest bet signals a major push to make cutting-edge cancer treatment more accessible.
