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news.Astellas Pharma has extended through 2023 the non-exclusive license agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals which allows Astellas to utilise Regeneron’s VelocImmune technology in its internal research programs to discover fully human monoclonal antibody product candidates.
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As per the terms of the extended agreement, Regeneron Pharma is expected to receive $165m upfront and another $130m in June 2018 from Astellas, unless it terminates the agreement prior to that date.
Upon commercialisation of any antibody products discovered utilising VelocImmune, Astellas is expected to pay a mid-single-digit royalty on product sales.
Astellas and Regeneron entered into a six-year VelocImmune license agreement, in March 2007, pursuant to which Astellas made license payments of $20m per year in 2007 through 2010. This amendment supersedes the original agreement and as such, Astellas is expected to no longer make annual license payments in 2011 and 2012.
George Yancopoulos, president of Regeneron Research Laboratories and chief scientific officer of Regeneron, said: “We are pleased that Astellas has elected to continue to utilise the VelocImmune platform for its internal development programs.”
Shinichi Tsukamoto, senior vice president of drug discovery research at Astellas, said: “We are excited about this extension of the license agreement with Regeneron.”