Huadong to commercialize CAR-T from CARsgen in China for $30 million upfront

PARTNERING

CARsgen and Huadong to collaborate on zevorcabtagene autoleucel in mainland China

With strong commercial capability and network, Huadong is granted the exclusive right to commercialize zevor-cel in mainland China. CARsgen will receive an upfront payment of $30 million) and is eligible to receive regulatory and commercial milestone payments up to $149 million. CARsgen will continue to be responsible for the development, regulatory approval, and manufacturing of CT053 in mainland China. 

Synaffix enters licensing agreements with Hummingbird and Amgen

Synaffix announced the signing of a licensing agreements with Amgen and Hummingbird Bioscience to develop next generation ADCs. Amgen will gain access to Synaffix’s antibody conjugation technology platforms comprising GlycoConnect, HydraSpace and select toxSYN linker-payloads for one ADC program with the option to exercise exclusive research and commercial licenses for an additional four programs at a later date. Synaffix will be eligible to receive up to $2 billion in payments spanning signature, program nomination and milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on commercial sales which are consistent with the financials of the recently signed licenses of Synaffix ADC technology platform. Amgen will be responsible for the research, development, manufacturing and commercialization of the ADCs and Synaffix will continue to be responsible for the manufacturing of components related to its technologies. Under the terms of the agreement with Hummingbird, Synaffix will be eligible to receive up to $150 million, including upfront and milestone payments, plus royalties on net sales. For the target licensed, Hummingbird Bio is granted rights to utilize Synaffix proprietary ADC technologies GlycoConnect and HydraSpace, in combination with select toxSYN linker-payloads.

Moderna and Cytomx announce strategic collaboration for mRNA-based therapeutics

Moderna, and CytomX Therapeutics announced a collaboration and licensing agreement to create investigational mRNA-based conditionally activated therapies utilizing Moderna's mRNA technologies and CytomX's Probody therapeutic platform. The research collaboration will leverage core scientific advances at Moderna and CytomX. CytomX's Probody technology enables proteins to be activated locally in diseased tissue, while remaining masked in systemic circulation. CytomX will receive an upfront payment of $35 million, including $5 million of pre-paid research funding. CytomX will continue to receive research funding and is eligible to receive up to approximately $1.2 billion in future development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments. CytomX is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on global net sales of any products that are commercialized under the agreement. Moderna and CytomX will collaborate on discovery and pre-clinical development and Moderna will lead clinical development and commercialization of therapeutics resulting from the agreement. The agreement additionally provides Moderna with an option to participate in a future equity financing by CytomX subject to certain terms, conditions and regulatory requirements.

WuXi and GSK enter a license agreement on multiple novel bi- and multi-specific T cell engagers

WuXi Biologics announced a license agreement with GSK under which GSK will have exclusive licenses for up to four bi- & multi-specific TCE antibodies developed using WuXi Biologics’ proprietary technology platforms. GSK will be granted an exclusive global license for the research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of a pre-clinical bispecific antibody that crosslinks tumor cells and T cells by targeting a tumor-associated antigen (TAA) on tumor cells and CD3 expression on T cells and up to three additional pre-clinical TCE antibodies currently at an earlier discovery stage. WuXi Biologics will receive a $40 million upfront payment and up to $1.46 billion in additional payments for research, development, regulatory and commercial milestones across the four TCE antibodies. WuXi Biologics is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales.