CollPlant Biotechnologies (Nasdaq: CLGN), which produces human type collagen from genetically engineered tobacco plants, and which has developed materials for dermal fillers and regenerating soft body tissue, has announced the achievement of a milestone under its agreement with AbbVie (NYSE: ABBV) for the development of a regenerative dermal and soft tissue filler product. Under the agreement, the achievement of this milestone triggers a $10 million payment from AbbVie to CollPlant.
AbbVie, which in 2020 acquired Irish company Allergan, the pioneer of Botox, is a global leader in aesthetic medicine in the injectables and filler category.
In 2021, AbbVie and CollPlant signed an agreement under which AbbVie has exclusive use of CollPlant’s technology for a regenerative dermal and soft tissue filler product. Collagen tissue filler products already exist on the market, but CollPlant says that its product causes fewer allergic reactions.
On the signing of the agreement, CollPlant received an advance payment of $14 million. The current payment is the first milestone payment, with a further $26 million to come, plus royalty payments and a fee for the manufacture and supply of rhCollagen.
CollPlant, headed by CEO Yehiel Tal, has a market cap of $92 million, after a year in which its share price has had its ups and downs but in the end remained about the same. The company has developed several products on the basis of its collagen, but recorded first quarter revenue of just $400,000.
The company hopes to increase its sales substantially through the agreement with AbbVie, and through another agreement recently signed to supply "biological ink" for Stratasys’s 3D printers producing artificial human tissue. The products that are the subject of the agreement are undergoing trials in animals, the first of them being a breast implant.
At the end of the first quarter, CollPlant had $26 million cash.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 3, 2023.
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