French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) continues to boost its pipeline through in-licensing deals and acquisitions. The company recently entered into an agreement with Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to acquire exclusive worldwide licensing rights for the development and co-commercialization of MM-121. MM-121, which is currently in phase I development, is a first-in-class, fully human monoclonal antibody designed to block signaling of the ErbB3 receptor.

Sanofi-Aventis will make an upfront payment of $60 million and will be responsible for all development costs. Merrimack is also eligible to receive an additional $470 million in milestone payments as well as tiered double-digit royalties on sales of MM-121.

Merrimack will be responsible for the development of MM-121 through phase II proof-of-concept for each indication, with Sanofi-Aventis taking up development thereafter. Merrimack has retained the right to co-promote the therapy in the United States. The in-licensing of MM-121 should help boost Sanofi-Aventis’ oncology portfolio. The candidate may have the potential to treat multiple forms of cancer.

In another deal, Sanofi-Aventis announced that it will acquire Fovea Pharmaceuticals SA, a privately held French research and development biopharmaceutical company, focused on ocular diseases, for €370 million.

With this acquisition, Sanofi-Aventis will enter the ophthalmology field. Fovea has three clinical compounds, a unique technology platform and several discovery programs dedicated to back of the eye diseases.

The lead pipeline candidate at Fovea is FOV 1101, an eye drop, which is currently in phase II studies for the treatment of persistent allergic conjunctivitis. Other candidates include FOV 2302, which is in phase I for the treatment of Retinal Vein Occlusion induced macular edema and FOV 2304, which is slated to enter in phase I by November 2009 for the treatment of diabetic macular edema.

These two deals are in-line with Sanofi-Aventis’ goal to focus on new approaches to strengthen its R&D portfolio. The company is looking to grow revenues through partnering deals and acquistions in order to help plug revenue holes left by patent expirations.

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