Under the agreement, Genmab has granted Serono exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Genmab’s HuMax-TAC. Genmab will receive an upfront payment of $2 million and is entitled to potential milestone payments of up to $38 million and royalties on sales from any eventual commercialization of the product. Serono will be responsible for all future development costs for HuMax-TAC.
The product is a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting the TAC antigen – also known as CD25, or the interleukin-2 receptor alpha subunit (IL-2Ra) – which is overexpressed by activated T-cells.
“We are committed to the development of novel therapeutics to fulfill significant unmet medical needs,” said Dr Timothy Wells, head of research at Serono. “We believe that HuMax-TAC brings a new dimension to the treatment of many of the key diseases where Serono has a scientific and medical interest.”