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news.Five Prime Therapeutics and Pfizer have signed a worldwide collaborative research and license agreement, which will focus on the discovery of antibody targets and novel therapeutic protein products to treat certain areas of cancer and diabetes.
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Under the collaboration, FivePrime will screen its comprehensive protein library in both cell-based assays and primary in vivo screens directed toward finding potential therapeutic protein products and antibody targets.
Upon the commencement of the collaboration, FivePrime will receive an up-front payment and an equity investment from Pfizer and three years of committed research funding. Pfizer will have exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize certain products and targets discovered during the research term, in exchange for future milestones and royalties.
A key component of the collaboration is FivePrime’s comprehensive, protein discovery system. Its protein screening library contains essentially all human secreted proteins and their receptors, including many that are unavailable in public collections. FivePrime’s existing investors made a co-investment in FivePrime in conjunction with Pfizer’s equity purchase.
Gail Maderis, president and CEO of FivePrime, said: “This is a very significant transaction for FivePrime. It provides the financial runway to take several of our oncology products into clinical trials in addition to greatly expanding our discovery efforts.”