Israeli cancer immunotherapy company Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN) today announced that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement with MedImmune, the biologics R&D arm of AstraZeneca. The agreement will facilitate the development of bi-specific and multi-specific immuno-oncology antibody products.
Under the terms of the agreement, Compugen will provide an exclusive license to MedImmune for the development of bi-specific and multi-specific antibody products derived from a Compugen pipeline program. MedImmune has the right to create multiple products under this license and will be solely responsible for all R&D and commercial activities under the agreement.
Compugen will receive a $10 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive up to $200 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestones for the first product as well as tiered royalties on future product sales. If additional products are developed, additional milestones and royalties would be due to Compugen. Compugen will retain all other rights to its entire pipeline of programs as monotherapies and in combination with other products.
Compugen president and CEO Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag said, "We are excited to announce our agreement with MedImmune, a global leader in the development of antibody-based oncology therapeutics. This licensing deal allows us to monetize specific scientific advances in our programs, while we continue to advance our lead programs into clinical trials. We are committed to our strategy of selectively collaborating with biopharmaceutical companies for the development of first-in-class products against our diverse, computationally-derived portfolio of targets."
MedImmune VP oncology R&D Ronald Herbst said, "This agreement with Compugen will support our abilities to generate novel immunotherapy targets which, coupled with MedImmune's expertise in antibody engineering, can advance our goal of delivering treatments to meaningfully improve the lives of cancer patients."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 2, 2018
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